Argentine · Concepción, Tucumán, Argentina · Born 18 November 1932 · Died 1973-10-21Nasif Estéfano was an Argentine racing driver who briefly competed in Formula 1 before becoming a dominant force in Argentine touring car and single-seater racing, winning a posthumous 1973 Turismo Carretera title.
Nasif Estéfano won back-to-back Argentine Mecánica Nacional championships in 1963 and 1964 and the Argentine Formula 3 title in both 1965 and 1966, becoming one of the country's most successful domestic racing drivers before his death in a Turismo Carretera race in October 1973, the season in which he was posthumously crowned champion. A friend of Italian constructor Alejandro de Tomaso, Estéfano moved to Europe in the early 1960s and acquired a De Tomaso-built Formula Junior car, making his Formula One debut at the 1960 Argentine Grand Prix. Estéfano's brief Formula One career included an unsuccessful entry in the uncompetitive De Tomaso 801 at the 1962 Italian Grand Prix, after which he returned to Argentina to focus on domestic racing. He dominated the country's top single-seater series, the Mecánica Nacional Fórmula Uno, winning back-to-back championships in 1963 and 1964, and continued competing in Europe in sports cars, taking a class win at the Reims 12 Hours in 1964 and competing in the European Touring Car Championship. Estéfano went on to win the Argentine Formula 3 championship in both 1965 and 1966, and became one of the country's most successful touring car racers in the prestigious Turismo Carretera series, winning three races in 1972 and five more in a dominant 1973 campaign. He was leading the championship late that season when he was killed on October 21, 1973, in a race near Aimogasta, La Rioja, when his car suffered a mechanical failure and rolled multiple times, ejecting him due to a faulty safety belt. He was posthumously crowned the 1973 Turismo Carretera champion.
Dominating Argentine domestic motorsport and winning a posthumous 1973 Turismo Carretera title
How They Played
Versatile racer equally skilled in single-seaters, sports cars, and touring cars
Lasting Impact
One of the great figures of Argentine domestic motorsport in the 1960s and 1970s, whose F1 career was a brief chapter in a much longer national racing legacy
Career Honours
- 2x Mecánica Nacional Fórmula Uno champion (1963, 1964)
- 2x Argentine Formula 3 champion (1965, 1966)
- Posthumous 1973 Turismo Carretera champion
| Constructor | Season(s) | Races |
|---|---|---|
| De Tomaso | 1960–1962 | — |
| Career Total | — | 0 |
Argentine Athletes