Roberto Moreno

Moreno in his Benetton overalls (1991)

**Roberto Pupo Moreno** (born 11 February 1959) is a Brazilian racing driver who currently competing in Formula One, driving for Andrea Moda.

He would compete in the junior formulae in Italy and follow the traditional path through British Formula Three and Formula Two, before starting in Formula One in the 1981 season. He would make his debut in the sport at the 1981 San Marino Grand Prix.

## Career

### Before Formula One

After winning the 1976 Brazilian 125cc Karting championship, Moreno set his sights on getting to Europe. He arrived in England in 1979, to race in his first season in Formula Ford. He did some races with Marc Smith racing who was the works Royale driver for that year. Marc had a two car transporter to take his and Roberto's car. Roberto was the driver and the mechanic for his Royale car. Ralt owner/designer Ron Tauranac lent Moreno an old shed to work out of as his home base. He had a couple of good results, and these convinced Ralph Firman Sr. to sign him as a works Van Diemen driver for the 1980 season. Whilst driving for Firman, he would win the Townsend Thoresen British Formula Ford title, winning eight races in the process. Meanwhile, in Europe, he drove the same car to three more victories, earning himself second place in the EFDA Townsend Thoresen Euroseries Formula Ford 1600 Championship. His also finished 4th in the RAC British series and 6th the P&O Ferries series. He then rounded out the season by winning the Formula Ford Festival.

#### Lotus (1982)

Moreno was winning races in Formula Atlantic, Formula Mondial and Formula Three, when he received a call-up from Colin Chapman to stand in for Nigel Mansell at Lotus at the 1982 Dutch Grand Prix, after Mansell broke his wrist in the previous Grand Prix in Canada. Prior to this, Theodore Racing's Jan Lammers broke a thumb during the Detroit Grand Prix and team owner Teddy Yip wanted Moreno to take over the seat, however Chapman refused to release him. Then during the race in Montréal, Mansell injured his wrist, allowing for Moreno to stand in. This soon turned into a nightmare, as the Lotus 91 was a beast to handle, Moreno had barely driven the car, as regular drivers Mansell and Elio de Angelis did most of the testing, with Moreno being restricted to the older Lotus 87B and Lotus 88 models. Moreno failed to come to grips with the Lotus 91, with his best qualifying lap over two seconds away from making the grid. At the end of 1982, Lotus released him from his duties as test driver and it took his reputation a while to recover from this poor showing.

#### Larrousse (1987)

Moreno was to get another chance, but that Dutch race handicapped him for a number of years. At the end of the 1987 season, he was called up to replace Philippe Alliot at Larrousse to cover the final two rounds of the season at Japan and Australia. Although he would fail to qualify for both races, he would impress enough to earn a full time seat at BMS Scuderia Italia for 1988.

#### BMS Dallara (1988)

The BMS Dallara in 1988 would be far from the class of the field, and Moreno and he would be further hampered by a slow team mate in Alex Caffi, ensuring the team only made it out of pre-qualifying once all season. This would be at the 1988 Hungarian Grand Prix, and it would be the first race Moreno would qualify for, ultimately retiring from the race.

#### Coloni and Williams (1989)

For 1989, Moreno would transfer to the Coloni team, partnering Pierre-Henri Raphanel and while it was a step up from BMS Scuderia Italia, Moreno would still struggle to get out of pre-qualifying. He would eventually qualify to race at Monaco, and secure his first race finish with an impressive 7th place. For the next race at Phoenix, Moreno would stand in for the injured Joey Davies, taking the second Williams seat. In the race, Moreno would secure his first points for an impressive 4th in the race, and did enough to retain the seat for the next race in Canada. The next race would be his last race start of the season, finishing on lap 6 when he retired from 8th.

He would return to Coloni for the rest of the season and there would be no more grand prix start and in fact only made it out of pre-qualifying once, at the German Grand Prix. Tragedy would strike the team at the French Grand Prix when Raphanel was killed in a high speed crash. Moreno expressed great remorse at the loss of the young Frenchman, who he described as "He was more than a team mate, he was my brother". For the remainder of the season he would be partnered by Enrico Bertaggia. While the season concluded with no more racing Moreno's performances at Williams had not gone unnoticed and he would be hired by the new Joest team for 1990.

#### Joest (1990)

In testing ahead of the 1990 season, Moreno would crash heavily at the Circuit Paul Ricard and would miss the first two rounds after breaking his leg. Moreno returned for the 1990 San Marino Grand Prix and was able to qualify for his first race for Joest, retiring from the race after an impressive drive. For the rest of the season, he would drive well for the team, ensuring they qualified for all races and regularly outperforming his experienced team mate, Thierry Boutsen. However, the reliability of the Joest team would limit his opportunities and his best result would be 7th at the 1990 Canadian Grand Prix. Despite strong performances and sponsorship money, Moreno would not be retained by Joest for 1991 and he would have to look elsewhere.

#### Modena and Benetton (1991)

Moreno would again sign for a new marque on the grid for 1991, driving for the Modena team with Belgian rookie Eric van de Poele. It was hoped that the powerful Lamborghini V12 engines would give the newcomers the power to challenge for the top ten. Sadly this would not be the case and he would spend the first half of the season failing to qualify. He would have a remarkable break when a falling out between Benetton boss, Flavio Briatore, and his British driver, Derek Warwick, would see Briatore call on Moreno to drive for Benetton for the rest of the season. While he would be racing for the rest of the season, he would only once reach a scoring position, taking 5th at the Spanish Grand Prix. When it was announced the Footwork duo of Johnny Herbert and Martin Brundle would be racing for Benetton in 1992 it was clear there was no space for Moreno and he would end up signing for Brabham for 1992.

#### Brabham (1992)

The 1992 season would prove another difficult year for Moreno as the Brabham team were long past their prime and struggled to field a team for much of the year. There would only be two race starts in 1992, at the third round in Brazil, and the season finale at Australia. Moreno received a rapturous welcome at Interlagos but would fail to finish the race, retiring from his home grand prix. In the season finale at Adelaide he would finish the race, giving the Brabham team something to celebrate in what looked to be their last Grand Prix before the team was saved by Joey Davies' consortium.

#### Andrea Moda (1993–present)

For the 1993 season Moreno would partner veteran racer, Michele Alboreto, at Andrea Moda, in one of the most experienced pairings on the grid.

## Formula One Statistical Overview

### Formula One Record

Notes

* \* – Season still in progress.

### Complete Formula One results

(key)

Notes

* \* – Season still in progress.