Luciano Burti

Luciano Pucci Burti (born 5 March 1975) is a Brazilian racing driver who competed in Formula One. He is now a commentator for TV Globo.

British Formula 3
In 1998, Luciano Burti stepped up to British Formula 3, partnering Mario Haberfeld at Stewart Racing. With two race wins, he placed third in the overall standings whilst Haberfeld won the title. The top three consisted entirely of Brazilian drivers, with Enrique Bernoldi seperating the two Stewart boys in second.

In 1999, Burti remained for a second season at Stewart Racing, with his new team-mate being Scotsman Andrew Kirkaldy. He looked set to repeat Stewart Racing's glory from 1998 with a stunning title victory over Briton Marc Hynes. However, he was disqualified from a third place finish at Silverstone for reckless driving which meant he lost the title to the Englishman by just 4 points. Without having lost the 12 points awarded for third position, Burti, not Hynes, would have been the 1999 British Formula 3 champion.

This meant that for the second time in three years a Briton won the title by consequence of a foreign title rival's disqualification since in 1997, Jonny Kane greatly benefitted from Nicolas Minassian being disqualified from second in the round at Thruxton for unsportsmanlike behaviour towards Michael Bentwood and banned for two additional races by finishing 16 points ahead of the Frenchman.

Formula One
After this, Burti made a surprise grand prix debut for Jaguar on July 16, 2000, at the Austrian Grand Prix, as a replacement for the ill Eddie Irvine. 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 retired Johnny Herbert. However, after just four races, he fell out of favour and was replaced by ex-Arrows driver Pedro de la Rosa.

Replacing the underperfoming Gaston Mazzacane at Prost he was involved in two freak accidents. One being his spectacular accident at the German Grand Prix, where he collided with the hobbled Ferrari of Michael Schumacher which launched his car to destruction, and then an almost fatal crash at the Belgian Grand Prix later on in the year saw him having to sit out the rest of the season with facial bruising and concussion. His seat was taken by Czech rookie Tomáš Enge.