Luciano Pucci Burti (born 5 March 1975) is a Brazilian racing driver who briefly raced in

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

. He is now a commentator for TV Globo.

Early career

Burti's early career saw him graduate through the usual channels and he found himself in

British Formula 3 The British Formula Three Championship was an international motor racing series that took place primarily in the United Kingdom with a small number of events in mainland Europe. It was a junior-level feeder formula that used small single se ...

driving for the crack Stewart Racing team. In his second season of F3 in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

he finished runner-up to

Marc Hynes Marc Hynes (born 26 February 1978 in Guildford) is a British racing driver, who competed for Quantel Bifold Racing. with Triple Eight Race Engineering in the British Touring Car Championship. He won the 1995 British Formula Vauxhall Junior tit ...

, but it was third-placed Jenson Button who would go on to achieve stardom in Formula One. Burti impressed when testing the Stewart F1 car that season and became

Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...

's tester for 2000, mainly down to the lobbying of Jackie Stewart, the outgoing team-boss.

Formula One career

2000–2001

A surprise Grand Prix début came on 16 July 2000 at the

Austrian Grand Prix The Austrian Grand Prix (german: Großer Preis von Österreich) is a Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile sanctioned motor racing event that was held in , –, –, and then returned to the Formula One calendar in . History The A ...

, when he was called up at short notice as a replacement for the ill

Eddie Irvine Edmund Irvine Jr. (; born 10 November 1965) is a former racing driver from Northern Ireland. He competed in Formula One between 1993 and 2002, and finished runner-up in the 1999 World Drivers' Championship, driving for Scuderia Ferrari. He b ...

. Having tested consistently well for Jaguar in the 2000 Formula One season and with a race start already under his belt, he was promoted to the race team alongside Irvine in 2001, replacing the retiring

Johnny Herbert John Paul "Johnny" Herbert (born 25 June 1964) is a British former racing driver and current television announcer for Sky Sports F1. He raced in Formula One from 1989 to 2000, for seven different teams, winning three races and placing 4th in ...

. However, he fell out of favour after just four races, and was replaced by ex-Arrows driver

Pedro de la Rosa Pedro Martínez de la Rosa (; born 24 February 1971) is a Spanish former Formula One driver who has participated in 107 Grands Prix for the Arrows, Jaguar, McLaren, Sauber and HRT teams. He made his Formula One debut on 7 March 1999, becoming ...

. Burti found a seat immediately at Prost, where the underperforming

Gastón Mazzacane Gastón Hugo Mazzacane (born 8 May 1975) is an Argentine racing driver. He participated in 21 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 12 March 2000. He scored no championship points. His father, Hugo Mazzacane named him after Argentine touring car r ...

had been sacked. Burti raced competently for Prost and recorded his highest finish - eighth place - at the Canadian Grand Prix; he also occasionally qualified ahead of his highly experienced teammate

Jean Alesi Jean Alesi (born Giovanni Alesi, 11 June 1964) is a French professional racing driver of Italian origin. After successes in minor categories, notably winning the 1989 Formula 3000 Championship, his Formula One career included spells at Tyrrell ...

. However, his most notable moment in the first half of the season was an accident at the

German Grand Prix The German Grand Prix (german: Großer Preis von Deutschland) was a motor race that took place most years since 1926, with 75 races having been held. The race has been held at only three venues throughout its history; the Nürburgring in Rh ...

- unable to avoid the slowing

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

Michael Schumacher Michael Schumacher (; ; born 3 January 1969) is a German former racing driver who competed in Formula One for Jordan, Benetton, Ferrari, and Mercedes. Schumacher has a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Lewis ...

, whose gearbox had failed seconds after the race start, Burti struck the back of Schumacher's car, launching his Prost into a destructive cartwheel over the Arrows of

Enrique Bernoldi Enrique Antônio Langue e Silvério de Bernoldi (born 19 October 1978) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who raced for the Arrows Formula One team in 2001 and 2002, and was the test driver for British American Racing (later Honda) betw ...

. None of the three drivers were injured and all took the restarted race, from which Burti spun out on the 23rd lap.

Crash at 2001 Belgian Grand Prix

Two races later he had a more serious crash at the

Belgian Grand Prix The Belgian Grand Prix (French language, French: ''Grand Prix de Belgique''; Dutch language, Dutch: ''Grote Prijs van België''; German language, German: ''Großer Preis von Belgien'') is a motor racing event which forms part of the Formula O ...

when his car touched with

as he attempted to overtake the Northern Irishman. The front wing became lodged under Burti's front wheels, allowing him no braking or steering into the 190 mph Blanchimont corner; the impact with the tire barrier was so great that segments of the barrier were thrown into the air, landing on Burti's cockpit and knocking him unconscious. Irvine, after suffering a sizeable impact himself, subsequently helped the marshals in their attempt to extract Burti from his car. The crash forced him to sit out the rest of the season with facial bruising and a concussion. His seat was taken by Czech rookie

Tomáš Enge Tomáš Enge (; born 11 September 1976) is a Czech former professional racing driver who has competed in many classes of motorsport, including three races in Formula One. He has twice been sanctioned professionally for drug offences. Career Born ...

2002–2004

Burti subsequently signed to test for the

team, but that came to an end at the end of his contract in 2004. Over the course of his Formula One career, he scored no championship points. He has since returned to Brazil, where he competes in

Stock Car Brasil Stock Car Pro Series, formerly known as Stock Car Brasil, is a touring car auto racing series based in Brazil organized by Vicar. It is considered the major Brazilian and South American motorsports series. Starting in 1979 with Chevrolet as the ...

and commentates on Formula One races for TV Globo.

Racing results

Complete Formula One results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

)

Complete Stock Car Brasil results

^† As Burti was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.

References

Sources

Profile at www.grandprix.com

External links

Luciano Burti official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burti, Luciano 1975 births Living people Brazilian racing drivers Brazilian Formula One drivers British Formula Three Championship drivers Racing drivers from São Paulo Brazilian people of Italian descent Jaguar Formula One drivers Prost Formula One drivers Stock Car Brasil drivers TC 2000 Championship drivers Brazilian expatriates in Italy Brazilian expatriates in Monaco Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the United Kingdom Porsche Supercup drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers Paul Stewart Racing drivers