The former Jaguar driver put a brave face on his disappointment but conceded his future may lay away from Williams and Formula One, with a move to Champ Cars in the United States a possibility.

With backing from Brazilian oil giant Petrobras, Pizzonia has been linked to a race seat in Champ Cars and today confessed he has already held talks over a switch across the Atlantic.

“We have been in touch with a few teams over there,” said the former British Formula Three champion.

“I really want to be racing this year but I also want to be in Formula One.

“Obviously it is not the right time to make a decision at the moment. The idea is to be in Formula One, testing or racing.

“I really need a couple of days to think about it and make a decision for my career.”

Pizzonia confessed he was unhappy at being forced to face up to Heidfeld in testing, despite racing in four grands prix last year.

He stood in for Ralf Schumacher on four occasions and scored four points, although his strongest race heralded nothing when a run to the podium in Belgium was halted by mechanical failure.

After impressing the team, he felt he had done enough to deserve the race seat which became vacant when Jenson Button’s move from BAR was blocked.

He said: “I was never really happy with the idea of comparing drivers, because I have been with the team for a little while now.

“I did four races last year, so if I couldn’t prove myself then I couldn’t prove myself in two or three tests.

“Obviously I am quite disappointed in the decision and disappointed as well that the job I did in four races last year was not good enough for the team.

“I think it was a very difficult decision for the team. (Principal) Frank (Williams) didn’t go into details over why he chose Nick and not me; he only said my career at Williams is at the beginning and I shouldn’t give up.”