Esteban Tuero - Formula One Career

Formula One Career

Initially there were doubts over whether Tuero would be allowed to compete in the 1998 season. Although Minardi had signed him to a valid contract, he failed to meet all of the requirements of the Super License. F1 pundit Martin Brundle was quoted as saying, "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."

Tuero was eventually awarded his license by the FIA and, upon starting the season at 19 years of age, he become the third-youngest ever F1 driver at the time (only Mike Thackwell and Ricardo Rodriguez had competed at a younger age). He qualified 17th at Melbourne, ahead of his teammate Nakano. Minardi was a team stuck at the back of the pack with the Tyrrells, who were competing their final season in F1, and Tuero only made the top ten once, at the 1998 San Marino Grand Prix.

His final race of the season would also be his final race in a single seater Formula sport, at the 1998 Japanese Grand Prix. Starting 21st on the Suzuka grid, he crashed into Toranosuke Takagi on lap 29, injuring a vertrebra in his neck in the process. In the immediate aftermath of the incident, Ferrari's Michael Schumacher who was challenging McLaren's Mika Häkkinen for the driver's title passed the accident with carbon fibre littering the race track. Schumacher then suffered a catastrophic rear tyre failure forcing him to retire and thus handing Häkkinen the title.