Tiago Monteiro: Portugal's Formula One Podium and a Long Touring Car Career

Tiago Monteiro, of Portugal, raced in Formula One in 2005 and 2006 and then spent most of the following two decades in touring car racing. His only Formula One podium came at the 2005 United States Grand Prix, and his World Touring Car career ran from 2007 until the series folded after 2022.

Who is Tiago Monteiro?

Tiago Vagaroso da Costa Monteiro was born on 24 July 1976 in Porto, where he was raised. His father inspired him to start racing, and one of his surnames, Vagaroso, means slow in Portuguese.

Monteiro later became a team owner and driver manager as well as a driver. He owned the GP2 and GP3 operation Ocean Racing Technology between 2008 and 2012, and he manages the career of fellow Portuguese driver Antonio Felix da Costa, who took the Formula E title in 2019-20, along with his son Noah.

A Portuguese driver who reached the Formula One podium in his rookie season and then raced at the top of the World Touring Car series for years.

How did Monteiro rise through the single-seater ranks?

His career began in 1997 in the French Porsche Carrera Cup, where he took five wins and five poles, earning the B-class title and the rookie prize. In 1998 he moved to the French Formula Three Championship, finishing 12th overall and winning the rookie award, and in 1999 he took one win and sixth overall. He also finished 17th at Le Mans, sixth in the GT2 class, and won the International Renault Finals at Estoril after taking pole and fastest lap.

In 2000 he finished second in French F3 after four wins, and he was also second at the Pau Grand Prix. He finished second at the Korea Super Prix and ninth at Macau. In 2001 he was again second overall in French F3, with six poles, four wins and four podiums.

Monteiro then stepped up to International F3000 with Super Nova in 2002, finishing 12th in the championship. That year he also joined the Renault Formula One Driver Development Scheme and tested a Renault at Barcelona. In 2003 he moved to Champ Car with Fittipaldi Dingman Racing, starting from the front row in Mexico City and leading two races. That season brought ten top-ten finishes and 29 points, and 15th overall.

He was then signed as a Minardi test driver for 2004 and turned out for Carlin in the Nissan World Series. He ended as runner-up to Heikki Kovalainen and took the rookie award.

How did Monteiro reach Formula One with Jordan?

Once the Midland Group had bought Jordan Grand Prix, Monteiro was signed full-time alongside the Indian Narain Karthikeyan for 2005. He made his debut at the Australian Grand Prix, and he went on to become the first Portuguese driver to reach a Formula One podium.

That result arrived at the 2005 United States Grand Prix, a race held in controversial circumstances. Because of tyre-safety worries, the teams on Michelin rubber withdrew and did not take their places on the grid. Only the three teams on Bridgestone tyres took part, and Monteiro came third of six cars that raced.

At the podium ceremony, most of the scheduled dignitaries were absent, and the Ferrari drivers Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello accepted their awards quietly and left quickly. Monteiro stayed behind to celebrate alone, and although the crowd booed much of the ceremony, they applauded him.

What else stood out in Monteiro's 2005 season?

That podium made him Portugal's most decorated Formula One driver at the time. Pedro Lamy had held the record before, with one point from sixth in Australia with Minardi in 1995.

He also finished every race of his rookie season, up to and including the Belgian Grand Prix, which broke the consecutive-finish record for a rookie that had been held by Jackie Stewart in 1965 and Olivier Panis in 1994. That record lasted until 2013, when Max Chilton finished all 19 races.

Before the Turkish Grand Prix he suffered a toothache severe enough to threaten his race. Team principal Colin Kolles, himself a qualified dentist, handled an emergency root canal, and that cleared Monteiro to take the start. He finished 15th after Juan Pablo Montoya ran wide and lost second place to Fernando Alonso on the penultimate lap.

Why did Monteiro's Formula One career end after 2006?

Midland re-signed Monteiro for 2006 to partner the Dutchman Christijan Albers. The M16 went without a single point, and the pair were often beaten by Toro Rosso and sometimes Super Aguri. Monteiro retired from six of the 18 races, and his best finish was ninth at the Hungarian Grand Prix, just outside the points.

Word came on 21 December 2006 that he would not race for the renamed Spyker in 2007, and Adrian Sutil took the seat. Talks with Toro Rosso came to nothing once the team confirmed Vitantonio Liuzzi and then Scott Speed. He exited Formula One having achieved one podium and seven points.

What did the SEAT years in the World Touring Car Championship bring?

In March 2007 Monteiro was announced for SEAT Sport in the World Touring Car Championship, driving a SEAT Leon. He had to wait for his debut until the second round at Zandvoort, but his first season was a success, with three podiums and a pole position, and he finished 11th overall.

In 2008 he drove the TDi version of the Leon and got his first victory at Puebla, Mexico. Later that year he won the second race at Estoril, his home round in Portugal. He finished 12th overall, while SEAT team-mate Yvan Muller took the drivers' title and the team won the manufacturers' championship.

He stayed with SEAT in 2009, scoring podiums at Valencia and Brno to finish ninth overall. SEAT then announced in January 2010 that it would pull out of the series, but Monteiro moved to SR-Sport, a squad run by Sunred Engineering and backed by SEAT Sport money. In 2010 he took five podiums, with wins at Portimao and Valencia, and he finished fifth overall, his most successful season in recent years.

How did the Honda years change Monteiro's career?

Monteiro joined the Honda Racing Team JAS at the 2012 Race of Japan, driving the new Honda Civic. Honda had made its WTCC debut at that round, so his first races for the marque were part of a fresh programme. The first Civic rostrum in the WTCC came for him at the Macau Guia Race that year, where he finished third in race one.

In 2013 he took his first Honda win at Shanghai, and he added five more podiums as Honda won the manufacturers' world championship. The title was a team achievement, and Monteiro was one of the drivers who delivered it. He scored five podiums and a pole in 2014 to finish fifth, and in 2015 he won in Russia and at Honda's home race in Japan.

His best championship result came in 2016, when he won in Slovakia and Portugal and took five further podiums to finish third behind Jose Maria Lopez and Yvan Muller. In 2017 he won twice more and led the championship after 12 races, before a brake failure during testing at Barcelona in September caused serious injuries that ended his season.

How did Monteiro return from his injuries?

That year the series was renamed the World Touring Car Cup, and Monteiro had planned to move to Boutsen Ginion Racing. His recovery was not complete for the first eight rounds, so he returned at Suzuka in November, the same track where he had debuted for Honda in 2012. Fellow drivers applauded him as he went out first in Free Practice One. He missed the Macau finale on medical advice.

For 2019 he switched to KCMG in the Civic Type R TCR. He had not raced a full programme since 2017, so the season was a full return to competition. A rough start followed, but he won his home race in Portugal, the first win of his comeback. Endurance success followed too, with TCR class wins at the Nurburgring 24 Hours in 2019 and 2020, and he contested the final three seasons before the series collapsed at the end of 2022.

What did Monteiro achieve as a team owner?

Monteiro became interested in ownership during 2008 and talked with the BCN Competicion team about buying its GP2 operation. On 27 November 2008 he confirmed the purchase and gave the operation its new name, Ocean Racing Technology.

The team had a successful first season in 2009, including a Belgian feature race win with the Portuguese driver Alvaro Parente, which showed it could compete at GP2 level. It also raced in the GP2 Asia Series and the GP3 Series, but in the winter of 2012 to 2013 it withdrew from GP2 and GP3 for lack of funding. Its short life shows how demanding running a team can be.

Monteiro also made a one-off appearance outside Europe. In 2010 he was a guest driver at the Gold Coast 600 in the V8 Supercars Championship, sharing a Holden with Tony D'Alberto. They retired once and finished 17th once in the two races.