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Esteban Tuero | Birthdate: | April 22nd 1978 | | | | Country: | Argentina  | | | | Gender: | M |
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| History: | | 1985 - | Competed in karts in Argentina. | | 1986 - | Competed in karts in Argentina. | | 1987 - | Competed in karts in Argentina. | | 1988 - | Competed in karts in Argentina. | | 1989 - | Competed in karts in Argentina. | | 1990 - | Competed in karts in Argentina. | | 1991 - | Competed in karts in Argentina. | | 1992 - | Competed in karts in Argentina. | | 1993 - | Argentine Formula Renault for the Crespi team. | | 1994 - | Argentine Formula Honda, 1st overall for the Kissling team. SudAm F3, selected races in an INI Ralt Opel. | | 1995 - | Italian Formula 2000, 1st overall in an RC Motorsport Dallara 392 Volkswagen. Italian F3, selected races in an RC Motorsport Dallara 395 Opel. | | 1996 - | Italian F3, 13th overall, 16 points in a Coloni Dallara 396 Alfa Romeo. F3000, 6 starts in a Draco Lola T96/50 Zytek. Competed at the Monaco F3 event. Became test driver for the Minardi F1 team. | | 1997 - | Formula Nippon, =16th overall, 1 point in a Team Le Mans Reynard 97D Mugen. Test driver for the Minardi F1 team. | | 1998 - | Minardi M198 Ford Zetec R V10, 16 entries. | | 1999 - | Argentine TC2000, 1 win in a VW Elaion Volkswagen Polo. | | 2000 - | Argentine TC2000, 8th overall, 69 points, 1 win in a VW Elaion Volkswagen Polo. | | 2001 - | Argentine TC2000 in a VW Elaion Volkswagen Polo and Volkswagen Bora. Biography: Copyright F1 Rejects. |
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When Esteban Tuero set off in practice for the 1998 Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne Park he became the third youngest driver to ever start a grand prix.
Signed by Minardi in 1998, the Argentinian from Buenos Aires became the cause of much controversy in his early Formula 1 career. Many, including Formula 1 expert Martin Brundle, believed Tuero didn't deserve the superlicense he needed to race in Formula 1.
Despite this, he lined up in 17th for his first grand prix, ahead of his team-mate and both Tyrells. He retired from his first three races, a major disappointment coming in Argentina where he spun out of his home grand prix. Yet in Imola he brought the woeful Minardi home in a brilliant eighth position.
More disappointment followed. In 1998 he would only finish four of the sixteen grand prix'. However by the final race in Japan his reputation had firmly grown and many believed he deserved his seat in Formula 1.
However Suzuka was where it all went wrong for the youngster. Stuck behind Tora Takagi's Tyrell going into the Castrol S, Tuero hit the accelerator rather than the brake and flew over the Japanese drivers car. The resultant impact was enough for Tuero to damage a vertebrae in his neck.
Despite this, Minardi still had full faith in the Argentinian and were looking forward to partnering him with Marc Gene in 1999. However, suddenly, he announced his retirement in January. Many in Formula 1 were shocked that someone could retire at such a young age. Tuero has never revealed why he made his decision, although a few theories have been echoing around for some time.
The first is that Tuero, who was just 20, was homesick and wanted to return to his home country, and that he had never recovered from his injuries suffered at Suzuka. Another says he had sponsorship difficulties following a fallout with manager Eduaro Ramirez.
One of the most believed is that Tuero was unhappy at the opinions of the Argentinian media. Despite showing talent beyond his age, Esteban was mocked amongst his home media for being plain slow. Many thought this criticism was unfair, as Tuero had the slowest car out there and was able to outqualify team-mate Shinji Nakano regularly.
But whatever the reason, Tuero's retirement lost a promising young talent from Formula 1.
Statistics
| Statistic | # | Percentage | First | Last | | Number of Grand Prix | 16 | 100% |  1998 |  1998 | | Number of starts | 16 | 100.00% | 1998 | 1998 | | Number of finishes | 4 | 25.00% |  1998 |  1998 | | Number of retirements | 12 | 75.00% | 1998 | 1998 |
Created by: system
last modification: Sunday 24 of July, 2005 [21:23:11 UTC] by Sennaesque
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