He is the youngest driver ever to retire from racing in Formula 1 and once cost Michael Schumacher a world championship

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The 2025 Formula 1 season has seen a host of young drivers begin their rookie seasons in the sport.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli became the third-youngest driver in Formula 1 history when he started the 2025 Australian Grand Prix.

Toto Wolff has downplayed expectations on Antonelli, but he joined an exclusive list of drivers to make their Formula 1 debut as teenagers.

Fellow rookie Oliver Bearman is also on that list, and Bearman starred on his debut in Saudi Arabia last year after stepping into Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari.

They joined the likes of Max Verstappen, Lando Norris and Fernando Alonso on the list of the 10 youngest drivers ever to take part in an F1 race.

It’s an eclectic mix of drivers that also includes Lance Stroll, former Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari, and Mexican racer Ricardo Rodriguez.

However, the most mysterious name on that list is Argentine Esteban Tuero, who arrived and exited F1 in the blink of an eye just before the turn of the century.

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Who was former Minardi Formula 1 driver Esteban Tuero?

Tuero was born in Buenos Aires on 22 April 1978, and started racing in cars in 1993 in Formula Renault.

He switched to Formula Honda the following season, before moving to Europe to race in Italian F3 in 1996.

Tuero didn’t complete the season, instead switching to Formula 3000, and while he didn’t do enough at that level to retain his seat, he instead switched to Formula Nippon in Japan, and alongside his test work for Minardi, earned enough points for an F1 superlicence.

Gian Carlo Minardi gave him his chance alongside Shinji Nakano, and while he was unqualified 11-5 during the 1998 season, he was expected to race alongside Marc Gene for the team the following year.

However, he was injured in a collision during the race of the 1998 season at the Japanese Grand Prix, and on 21 January 1999 at the age of 20 years and nine months, Tuero became the youngest driver to retire from Formula 1, via Atlas F1.

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How Esteban Tuero ended Michael Schumacher’s hopes of winning the 1998 F1 championship

Mika Hakkinen was four points clear of Michael Schumacher going into the final race of the 1998 season in Japan.

The German had a problem on the grid that saw him start from the back of the field despite initially qualifying on pole position after an initial aborted start.

Schumacher rose to P5 before retiring with a puncture on lap 31, handing the championship to Hakkinen.

It’s believed, as suggested by Atlas F1, that Schumacher picked up the damage from running over debris after a huge crash caused by Tuero three laps earlier.

The Argentine missed his braking point at the final chicane and ran straight into the side of Tora Takagi, ending both of their races in an event missed in the UK due to a poorly timed advertising break.

Schumacher was interviewed after retiring from the 1998 Japanese Grand Prix on ITV Sport, and he said: “It’s pretty obvious that I’m not delighted or excited, a little bit disappointed, but in relation, it’s not too bad because at the end of the day, we have done a good job, I believe.

“We can be fairly proud of what we did. We did, at the end of the day, a good race as well today. It was not supposed to be our championship, and I wouldn’t say it’s fair to say we lost it here; we lost it at the beginning of the season.”

Asked about the issue that ended his race, Schumacher said: “It wasn’t a puncture, it was an immediate explosion of the tyre.

“I didn’t have a sign, I had a front tyre problem several laps before that, and I was suspicious something could happen there.”

READ MORE: He is ‘one of the worst Grand Prix drivers ever’ who started more than 100 F1 races but never finished on the lead lap

Esteban Tuero’s mysterious disappearance from Formula 1

Tuero’s team principal Gian Carlo Minardi, in an interview with Atlas F1 in 2004, when asked about Tuero’s time in F1, said: “The most grotesque sporting one I can think of is about Esteban Tuero, who at the age of 20, on the 12th January 1999, told me he wouldn’t race anymore.

“He said that morning that only he could say why he wouldn’t race anymore.

“We were sitting around a table, with sporting director Cesare Fiorio, our president Gabriele Rumi, his Argentine manager Eduardo Ramirez, and myself, and we were left with our jaws dropped.

“He said that and just left. We didn’t even notice his taxi was waiting outside. He disappeared, and I never heard from him until 15-20 days ago when he called me, years later, to ask me for a phone number.

“I didn’t mention that episode, gave him the phone number, and that was it.

“It made me think that I need to be careful now when I deal with 20-year-olds, because at that age, drivers can get upset or attracted by other things which aren’t my business.”

Tuero returned to Argentina to race in the TC2000 touring car series, and eventually retired at the end of the 2016 season, with a small interlude racing in the FIA GT Championship in 2008.