Tarso Marques

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Tarso Marques
Formula One Career
Nationality	Brazilian
Active years	1996 - 2001
Team(s)	Minardi
Grands Prix	24
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podium finishes	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First Grand Prix	1996 Brazilian Grand Prix


Last Grand Prix	2001 Belgian Grand Prix

Tarso Anibal Sant'anna Marques (born January 19, 1976 in Curitiba) is a former Formula One driver from Brazil. He participated in 24 grands prix, debuting on March 31, 1996. He scored no championship points in three separate seasons, all driving for the Minardi team.

After five years of karting, Marques raced in Formula Chevrolet in his home country aged only 16, and he won the title at his first attempt. In 1993 he moved up to South American Formula 3 and subsequently European Formula 3000, and became the youngest driver to win races at both levels. In 1996 he started racing for Minardi in Formula One, competing with various drivers for the seat over the following two years, including Giancarlo Fisichella, Jarno Trulli and Pedro Lamy. Minardi's financial situation demanded that drivers with strong sponsorship were generally favoured, and there were several driver changes in the team at that time.

In 1999 he moved stateside to drive in the American Champ Car ranks, and caught the eye of legendary owner Roger Penske. When two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser Jr. was injured, Penske asked him to fill in. His best finish was 9th. In 2000, 2004, and 2005 he drove sporadically in that series for perennial hopeful team owner Dale Coyne, with a best result of 11th.

Marques returned to Formula One in 2001, to race alongside Fernando Alonso in the Minardi team, newly purchased by Paul Stoddart. It was a difficult season for Marques, with the team's financial difficulties not always allowing equal equipment for both drivers. Marques was employed under the provision that another driver with more sponsorship money could replace him at any point in the season, and that prospect was realised towards the end of 2001, when Minardi replaced Marques with Alex Yoong.

A rumour began to circulate in November 2005 that he had raised enough money to become Midland F1's third driver as Nicky Pastorelli ran out of funds. As it turned out, neither driver gained the necessary sponsorship to compete for Midland as there was fierce competition for the role, with Midland being the only team left in Formula One regularly employing pay-drivers.

[edit] Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Team	WDC
1996	Minardi	AUS	BRA Ret	ARG Ret	EUR	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA	GBR	DEU	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	JPN		Minardi	-
1997	Minardi	AUS	BRA	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA Ret	GBR 10	DEU Ret	HUN 12	BEL Ret	ITA 14	AUT EX	LUX Ret	JPN Ret	EUR 15		Minardi	-
2001	Minardi	AUS Ret	MAL 14	BRA 9	SAN Ret	ESP 16	AUT Ret	MON Ret	CAN 9	EUR Ret	FRA 15	GBR DNQ	DEU Ret	HUN Ret	BEL 13	ITA	USA	JPN	Minardi	-