Esteban Tuero
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| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | WDC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Minardi | Minardi M198 | Ford | 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 |
- | 0 |
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Retirement
Tuero had ended his season badly, but he had more than shown that he deserved his place on the grid. A restructured Minardi team looked forward to pairing the Argentine with newcomer Marc Gené in 1999, but Tuero surprised everyone in late January with the announcement of his retirement. Despite lots of speculation as to why he left the sport so soon, Tuero himself has been sworn to secrecy over the matter. Some speculated that he was merely homesick, having started his career so young, and never having recovered from the injuries suffered at Suzuka. Another theory, put forward by French magazine Auto-Hebdo, is that Tuero was embarrassed at the Argentine media's mocking his performances, though this criticism has been generally deemed unfair, since he was driving a Minardi was so young and inexperienced. Another theory was that he retired from the sport in protest at the decision to pull the Argentine Grand Prix from the F1 calendar in 1999. Others say he may have been hindered by sponsorship difficulties and by a fallout with manager Eduardo Ramirez. It has also been suggested that it was the dream of Tuero's father that his son race in F1, an ambition that Esteban himself may not have shared.
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After Formula One
Although he retired from Formula One, Tuero never completely left motorsport. 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. But later started to make some ground up, fighting for victories and podiums. He 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. He was linked with a pay-drivers seat in the CART series for 2002, but it never happened. Despite that he continued racing at TC2000 with several teams and some successful performances.
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