| BEFORE FORMULA ONE | ||
|
1991-93
School? What's that? He races karts |
Born on 19 January, 1976, I have no idea whatever happened to Brazilian Tarso Marques' education - he probably didn't have a great deal. Why not?
Because by 1991 he was racing in karts, and two years later, at the ripe old age of 17, he was busy coming 5th in the South American F3 championship in a Ralt/Mugen RT34. |
|
|
1994
Youngest ever F3000 point scorer |
The next year (1994) he packed his bags for Europe, joining the Vortex team in F3000, driving a Reynard/Cosworth as team-mate to
David Coulthard. In a midfield team, he improved as the season went on.
At the season finale at Magny Cours, he was a scintillating 5th in qualifying and 4th in the race, becoming the youngest ever driver at 18 to score points in F3000. |
|
|
1995
Simply can't convert great qualifying efforts into results |
Still driving a Reynard/Cosworth in 1995, this time for the top-flight DAMS team, Marques was a model of consistency in qualifying. In 8 round he qualified on pole twice, 2nd twice, and 3rd twice. He was not so consistent in the races though, crashing three times.
He did, however, blow away all comers at the Estoril round, held as a support race before the F1 GP. Small world ... ex-teammate Coulthard then blitzed them in the main event. Marques ended up fifth in the series on 15 points, less than what he should have had. |
|
|
|
||
| FORMULA ONE | ||
|
|
||
|
1996 Minardi Minnows Minardi get Marques, but he butchers Brazil |
With these credentials, and with some financial support back home, Marques was given his F1 break in 1996 by perennial strugglers Minardi, which signed him for the two South American rounds in Brazil and Argentina. At 20, he became the youngest driver in F1 in recent history, and one of the youngest ever.
At Interlagos, qualifying 19th out of 22 was no mean feat for an F1 rookie. But on race day there was a deluge, creating conditions difficult enough for seasoned pros, let alone a first-timer. Not surprisingly he spun out on the very first lap, leaving his car stranded in the middle of the track while the others rushed by.
|
|
|
1996
Qualifies well, but crashes and is discarded for Giancarlo |
Being familiar with the Autodromo Oscar Galvez in Buenos Aires certainly helped; Marques qualified an unbelievable 14th, ahead of
Martin Brundle's Jordan. But the race didn't come to such a glorious end; the young Brazilian ended up ramming up the back side of Brundle's car in a violent collision. He claimed Brundle was brake-testing him; Brundle claimed Marques missed his braking mark.
Despite all this promise, Minardi needed one thing above all: money. And Marques couldn't guarantee funding for the rest of the year, so out he went in favour of Giancarlo Fisichella. Not a bad swap, mind you. |
|
|
1997 Minardi Races most of the year when Prost takes Trulli |
He wasn't forgotten by Minardi, though. In 1997, while Ukyo Katayama and Jarno Trulli were signed up as the race drivers, Marques was given the permanent test job. When Alain Prost chose Trulli to replace the injured
Olivier Panis mid-season, Marques got a second chance to race in F1.
To be perfectly honest, the rest of the season for Marques was about as interesting as Al Gore, so we won't give a blow-by-blow account. |
|
|
1997
Best qualifying effort 18th, best race effort 10th. Yawn. |
He usually qualified in the last three places out of 22, except in Austria where he was disqualified for an underweight car, and at the Nurburgring where he drove out of his skin to qualify ... 18th. Yippee. The Minardi/Hart M197 was partial to mechanical problems, though, and his best race performance was 10th at Silverstone.
As Minardi's financial plight worsened, Marques found himself out of a drive in 1998 as the Faenza outfit chose Esteban Tuero and Shinji Nakano. |
|
|
|
||
| AFTER FORMULA ONE | ||
|
1998-99
Impresses Penske and replaces Unser Jnr. |
In most determined (hard-headed?) fashion, Marques chose to sit out 1998 when no good drive was offered to him. But in 1999 that changed. When Champ Car legend Al Unser Jr broke his leg in the opening round of the series, illustrious team boss Roger Penske gave Marques a test.
So impressive was the Brazilian, despite the fact that he had never driven on an oval before, that he secured the drive, coming 14th in his first race in Japan in his first race for 15 months. |
|
|
1999-2000
Little success, receives lifeline in CART |
He ended up driving six races in what proved to be an uncompetitive Penske/Mercedes combination, some as Unser's replacement, and some in a second car as Unser's team-mate. In the Rio 200 he qualified 8th and finished 9th.
Where to then? Penske had already signed top drivers Gil de Ferran and the late Greg Moore for 2000. The second drive eventually went to fellow Brazilian Helio Castro-Neves, leaving Marques in the cold. However, he recently replaced Gualter Salles in the Dale Coyne Racing outfit. Driving a Swift/Ford, his first round this season came at Motegi, where he started 21st but retired with just 15 laps to go. |
|
|
|
||
| back | ||
