Esteban Tuero

Esteban Tuero
Born	(1978-04-22) April 22, 1978 Buenos Aires, Argentina
Occupation	Racing driver (retired)
Years active	1993–2016
Known for	Formula One driver for Minardi in 1998

Esteban Eduardo Tuero (born 22 April 1978) is a retired Argentine racing driver who participated in Formula One with Minardi during the 1998 season. At just 19 years old, he became the then-third-youngest competitor in Formula One history, joining the team alongside Shinji Nakano, but his tenure in the championship lasted only one year.

Early life

Tuero was born in Buenos Aires and raised close to the Oscar Gálvez circuit, a former host of the Argentine Grand Prix. Coming from a family with motorsport ties—his father having been a minor race car driver—he began karting at age seven and steadily climbed through the ranks before transitioning to car racing in 1993.

Minor formulae career

Tuero launched his car racing pursuits with Crespi in Formula Renault in 1993, followed by securing the Argentine Formula Honda title with Kissling in 1994. He also competed in South American Formula Three, gaining valuable experience outside his home country.

In 1995, Tuero relocated to Europe to further his career, capturing the Italian Formula 2000 National Trophy convincingly behind the wheel of a Dallara 392 and making his debut in Italian Formula Three. The following year, he joined Coloni Motorsport for Italian F3, driving a Dallara 396 equipped with an Alfa Romeo engine. His promising results caught the attention of Formula One teams such as Benetton, but it was Minardi that offered him a test driver role at the young age of 18.

Route to Formula One

During the 1996 Formula Three campaign, Tuero achieved fourth place in his first race and initially won his second event before disqualification due to non-compliant fuel. At a non-championship Monaco race, he lined up alongside future F1 competitor Jarno Trulli but retired after suffering a flat battery following an on-track collision. Midway through the season, Tuero transitioned to Formula 3000 with Draco, finishing 16th overall with only one top-ten finish. After being dropped for 1997, he competed in Japan's Formula Nippon series, earning one point and placing 16th overall; nonetheless, he accumulated sufficient mileage to qualify for an F1 Super License. His continued testing duties with Minardi impressed team management enough to secure him a race seat for the 1998 season alongside Shinji Nakano.

Formula One career

1998

Tuero’s participation in the 1998 Formula One season initially faced scrutiny over meeting Super License criteria. Despite skepticism from experts like Martin Brundle concerning his limited track record, the FIA granted him the necessary license. At age 19, he became the third-youngest driver on the grid at that time. In qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, Tuero secured 17th position—outqualifying teammate Nakano and established drivers such as Olivier Panis. However, race day proved challenging: he incurred a jump start penalty followed by a pit lane speeding penalty before retiring due to engine failure. Subsequent races were marred by gearbox malfunctions, inefficient pit stops, spins, and failures to finish within his first three events.

At the San Marino Grand Prix—the fifth race of the season—Tuero recorded his first race completion with an eighth-place finish and followed this with a fifteenth place in Spain despite receiving a stop-and-go penalty. Unfortunately, this was succeeded by five consecutive retirements at Monaco, Canada, France, Great Britain (in adverse weather), and Austria. A sixteenth-place finish in Germany briefly interrupted this sequence but was soon followed by further retirements in Hungary and Belgium. He managed an eleventh-place result in Italy before retiring again at Luxembourg.

Tuero’s final Grand Prix appearance came at Japan where he crashed after accidentally pressing the throttle instead of braking, colliding with Toranosuke Takagi’s Tyrrell. The accident resulted in serious neck injuries for Tuero. This incident occurred during a dramatic race where Michael Schumacher suffered tire failure that ultimately handed Mika Häkkinen the Drivers' Championship. Tuero concluded his only F1 season without scoring points or achieving a position in the Drivers' Championship standings.

1999

Minardi intended to keep Tuero on their roster for 1999 alongside Marc Gene. Although he was scheduled to test their new M01 car following recovery from injury, Tuero unexpectedly announced his retirement from Formula One just before testing commenced.

Post-Formula One Career

Although Minardi anticipated Tuero to remain with the team for the 1999 season, he unexpectedly decided to leave Formula 1 and return to Argentina. That same year, he entered the Argentine TC2000 touring car championship, initially facing challenges in reaching the top ten. Eventually, he achieved two victories behind the wheel of a Volkswagen Polo, one of three factory-supported Volkswagen vehicles. Nevertheless, Volkswagen withdrew its official backing as it introduced the less dependable Volkswagen Bora, which hindered Tuero's chances of further triumphs.

In 2002, Tuero was rumored to have secured a funded driving position in the CART series; however, this arrangement never came to fruition. He persisted in competing within TC2000 across different teams, earning multiple notable finishes.

By 2008, Tuero participated part-time in the FIA GT Championship, piloting a Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello. His racing career concluded following the 2016 TC2000 season.

Full International Formula 3000 Results

(key) (Events shown in bold denote pole positions) (Events in italics mark fastest laps)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final Position	Points
1996	Draco Engineering	NÜR	PAU	PER	HOC	SIL 14	SPA 17	MAG 10	EST Ret	MUG 13	HOC Ret	24th	0

Full Formula Nippon Results

(key) (Events highlighted in bold indicate pole position) (Events in italics signify fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final Standing	Points Earned
1997	Team LeMans	SUZ Ret	MIN Ret	FUJ 9	SUZ 11	SUG Ret	FUJ 6	MIN	MOT	FUJ	SUZ	16th	1

Complete Formula One World Championship Results

(key)

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Championship Position	Points Scored
1998	Minardi	Minardi minardi M198	Ford V10	AUS Ret	BRA Ret	ARG Ret	SMR 8	ESP 15	MON Ret	CAN Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	AUT Ret	GER 16	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA 11	LUX Ret	JPN Ret	NC	0