2/11/1959, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Starts:41
Points: 15
Wins:0
Poles:0
Fastest Laps:1
Understanding Roberto Moreno’s career is a major undertaking, for he was an obviously talented driver, with enough stamina to be driving to this day, who simply did not seem to catch the right breaks at the right time, although on paper he seemed to have plenty of opportunities. A pal of Nelson Piquet’s, Moreno went to Europe in 1979, and by 1980 was a major force in Formula Ford, winning 15 races. He went to Formula 3 in 1981, got excluded from some races due to regulation violations, and that early in his career got a testing contract with Lotus. Having won the Australian GP in 1981, against many established GP aces, Moreno went to the USA to drive in Atlantic. He then got what could be seen as the opportunity of a lifetime, but turned out to almost kill his career: he was entered as a Lotus race driver in the Dutch GP, but failed to come to grips with the car and DNQ’d miserably. That was it as far as Lotus was concerned. Still, he managed to land a works Ralt-Honda F2 drive, in the last year of the Formula, in 1984, finishing runner up in the championship. He then shifted focus to the USA again, trying Indy cars, where he made several contacts that would be useful years later. He returned to Europe to drive in F3000, was unlucky not to win many races, and finally got another Formula 1 break, driving for the underfinanced AGS team in 1987. He did really well to finish 6th in Australia, but that was not enough to get him a permanent Formula 1 drive, even at AGS! He did do a full season of F3000 in 1988, finally winning the championship handsomely, and was hired by Coloni for the 1989 F-1 season. One of the worst cars in the field, Moreno occasionally managed to qualify the beast, including a surprising 15th place start in Portugal. For 1990, Moreno was retained by Euro Brun, barely a change of fortune. The Euro Burn was just as bad as the Coloni, and Moreno managed to start only three races. The big chance of his career would be caused by another man’s unluckiness. Benetton’s Alessandro Nannini had a helicopter crash, as a result of which he had severe hand injuries, and the team needed a competent driver to fill the void. Obviously with some help from buddy Nelson Piquet, Moreno was called to race for the competitive team and had his 15 minutes of glory in F-1, finishing the Japanese GP in 2nd place, after qualifying ninth. Benetton decided to keep Moreno for the next season, and Roberto scored the occasional points, but was not as competitive as management expected. So after finishing 4th in Belgium and posting fastest lap, Moreno was summarily fired from the team, and replaced by Michael Schumacher, who had impressed in his debut race at SPA. As some form of compensation, Moreno got a couple of drives at Jordan, which was a rookie team that year, plus a final race of the year at Minardi. Reportedly he took home a nice sum of cash with his dismissal, but no money in the world could compensate what came next: a season driving for Andrea Moda, a team many reckon to have been the worst ever to grace the GP shores. Moreno actually managed to qualify in Monaco, of all places, but the car was terrible, there were legal problems, no engines, and it was all rather obvious that the team would not survive the year. It didn’t. After that, Moreno did some touring car racing in Europe, until he was called to drive in the largely Brazilian funded Forti team, in 1995. Reminiscent of Copersucar efforts of the 70’s, the yellow liveried team was also very far from competitive, and to make matters worse for Moreno, at times even teammate Diniz, whom many considered merely a rich kid, was faster than him. He saw out the season mostly retiring and never qualifying better than 20th. Moreno’s F1 career was thus over, but he continued racing, becoming known as Super Sub in the hey day of the CART Series in the USA, eventually landing a permanent seat in a good team and a couple of well deserved wins. He now races in the Brazilian Stock Car series, and appears sporadically in Sports Car races in the US.
OTHER CARS DRIVEN:
Formula 3000: Reynard, Tyrrell, Ralt,
Formula 2: Ralt
Formula 3: Ralt
Formula Ford: Van Diemen, Royale
Formula Atlantic: Ralt
Formula Indy: Lola, March, Swift, GForce, Reynard
Sports-cars: Porsche (930, 962), Riley
Touring-cars: Ford, Chevrolet (Brazilian stocks), Alfa-Romeo
Starts:41
Points: 15
Wins:0
Poles:0
Fastest Laps:1
Understanding Roberto Moreno’s career is a major undertaking, for he was an obviously talented driver, with enough stamina to be driving to this day, who simply did not seem to catch the right breaks at the right time, although on paper he seemed to have plenty of opportunities. A pal of Nelson Piquet’s, Moreno went to Europe in 1979, and by 1980 was a major force in Formula Ford, winning 15 races. He went to Formula 3 in 1981, got excluded from some races due to regulation violations, and that early in his career got a testing contract with Lotus. Having won the Australian GP in 1981, against many established GP aces, Moreno went to the USA to drive in Atlantic. He then got what could be seen as the opportunity of a lifetime, but turned out to almost kill his career: he was entered as a Lotus race driver in the Dutch GP, but failed to come to grips with the car and DNQ’d miserably. That was it as far as Lotus was concerned. Still, he managed to land a works Ralt-Honda F2 drive, in the last year of the Formula, in 1984, finishing runner up in the championship. He then shifted focus to the USA again, trying Indy cars, where he made several contacts that would be useful years later. He returned to Europe to drive in F3000, was unlucky not to win many races, and finally got another Formula 1 break, driving for the underfinanced AGS team in 1987. He did really well to finish 6th in Australia, but that was not enough to get him a permanent Formula 1 drive, even at AGS! He did do a full season of F3000 in 1988, finally winning the championship handsomely, and was hired by Coloni for the 1989 F-1 season. One of the worst cars in the field, Moreno occasionally managed to qualify the beast, including a surprising 15th place start in Portugal. For 1990, Moreno was retained by Euro Brun, barely a change of fortune. The Euro Burn was just as bad as the Coloni, and Moreno managed to start only three races. The big chance of his career would be caused by another man’s unluckiness. Benetton’s Alessandro Nannini had a helicopter crash, as a result of which he had severe hand injuries, and the team needed a competent driver to fill the void. Obviously with some help from buddy Nelson Piquet, Moreno was called to race for the competitive team and had his 15 minutes of glory in F-1, finishing the Japanese GP in 2nd place, after qualifying ninth. Benetton decided to keep Moreno for the next season, and Roberto scored the occasional points, but was not as competitive as management expected. So after finishing 4th in Belgium and posting fastest lap, Moreno was summarily fired from the team, and replaced by Michael Schumacher, who had impressed in his debut race at SPA. As some form of compensation, Moreno got a couple of drives at Jordan, which was a rookie team that year, plus a final race of the year at Minardi. Reportedly he took home a nice sum of cash with his dismissal, but no money in the world could compensate what came next: a season driving for Andrea Moda, a team many reckon to have been the worst ever to grace the GP shores. Moreno actually managed to qualify in Monaco, of all places, but the car was terrible, there were legal problems, no engines, and it was all rather obvious that the team would not survive the year. It didn’t. After that, Moreno did some touring car racing in Europe, until he was called to drive in the largely Brazilian funded Forti team, in 1995. Reminiscent of Copersucar efforts of the 70’s, the yellow liveried team was also very far from competitive, and to make matters worse for Moreno, at times even teammate Diniz, whom many considered merely a rich kid, was faster than him. He saw out the season mostly retiring and never qualifying better than 20th. Moreno’s F1 career was thus over, but he continued racing, becoming known as Super Sub in the hey day of the CART Series in the USA, eventually landing a permanent seat in a good team and a couple of well deserved wins. He now races in the Brazilian Stock Car series, and appears sporadically in Sports Car races in the US.
OTHER CARS DRIVEN:
Formula 3000: Reynard, Tyrrell, Ralt,
Formula 2: Ralt
Formula 3: Ralt
Formula Ford: Van Diemen, Royale
Formula Atlantic: Ralt
Formula Indy: Lola, March, Swift, GForce, Reynard
Sports-cars: Porsche (930, 962), Riley
Touring-cars: Ford, Chevrolet (Brazilian stocks), Alfa-Romeo
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