Esteban Tuero

Esteban Eduardo Tuero was born at a time when the likes of Nelson Piquet and Alain Prost were just beginning their careers. The Argentine Grand Prix was based near to his home, at the Oscar Gálvez race circuit. This meant that Formula One was popular where he grew up and, though the Grand Prix was discontinued in 1982, the sport was one of the biggest in the country.

Tuero moved up to car racing in 1993, spending a season with the Crespi team in Formula Renault. In 1994, he switched to Formula Honda with the Kissling team, becoming champion. All of his career so far had been in his native Argentina, so despite the pressures of racing in a Formula series whilst only 14, he was given his first taste of traveling the continent with a few races in South American Formula Three, driving a Ralt/Opel with the INI team.

In 1995, he moved to Europe, his father knowing his career would need to go there in order to gain momentum. He won the Italian Formula 2000 National Trophy by a large margin in a Dallara 392, and was also given a taste of Italian Formula Three in a Dallara 395. In 1996, he joined the bigger Italian F3 team Coloni Motorsport, driving a Dallara 396 with an Alfa Romeo engine. His performances in the series started generating interest from Formula One teams, with Benetton in the frame for signing him. It would be Minardi, though, who secured his services as a test driver for the team, despite being just 18 years old.

In the 1996 Formula Three season, Tuero finished fourth in his first race, and he crossed the line first in his second race, only to be disqualified due to using illegal fuel. In the non-championship Monaco event, he started on the front row alongside future F1 driver Jarno Trulli, battling with him before eventually punting him at the hairpin on Lap 17. Tuero retired due to a flat battery later in the race.

Initially there were doubts over whether Tuero would be allowed to compete in the 1998 season. Although Minardi had contracted him to drive an M198, alongside Japan's Shinji Nakano, he failed to meet all Super License requirements. Formula One pundit and former driver Martin Brundle said, "As for Tuero, it would have been scary. I don't like to see these guys out there with so little experience. Imagine it: even if he didn't qualify, he'd be getting in the way during qualifying. And if he did qualify, then he'd definitely be lapped plenty. He'd have really needed to have his wits about him. To be honest, it annoys me, people like that, with zilch credibility."

Though Minardi had counted on Tuero staying with the team for the 1999 season, to the surprise of the team he walked into a meeting and said he would leave Formula 1 and move back to his home country. In 1999, he joined the Argentinian TC2000 touring car racing series, where he struggled to make an impact by finishing outside the top ten overall. He later won two races at the wheel of a Volkswagen Polo which was one of the three official Volkswagen cars on the grid. After that, Volkswagen discontinued his official link with the team while they were developing new cars for the series. The new car, a Volkswagen Bora, was far from reliable. In fact, Tuero was leading some races with a nice gap and then he had to retire due to mechanical failures.

In 2008, he participated part-time in the FIA GT Championship in a Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello.

Happy Birthday Esteban Tuero | Formula 1 Amino

Today is the birthday of Argentinian driver Esteban Tuero (born on April 22nd 1978). Tuero started