Trivia

CART driver with Team Patrick Racing.

Roberto Pupo Moreno was one of the pioneers in one of the most important technological developments in the category, which would later reach street cars. It was the semi-automatic transmission, which was developed by the Brazilian driver together with Ferrari in tests in 1988, and was officially presented in F1 in the Italian team's car in 1989.

During the 1982 Canadian Grand Prix, Nigel Mansell was involved in a collision with Bruno Giacomelli, resulting in a fractured left wrist for the English driver. With Mansell out of the Dutch Grand Prix, Lotus called up their test driver, Roberto Moreno, to drive car number 12. Due to a lack of adaptation to the car, insufficient physical and technical preparation, and unfamiliarity with the chassis 91—an extremely unstable and difficult-to-drive "wing car," as the regular drivers Elio de Angelis and Nigel Mansell did most of the development—the 23-year-old Moreno failed to secure a spot among the 26 cars, finishing in 30th and last place. At the end of the 1982 season, Roberto Moreno was released by Lotus.

Roberto Pupo Moreno was known as the "Super Sub" late in his career as he was used to replace injured drivers several times.

Ex-Formula One racing driver, who raced for: Lotus (1982 (1 GP Not Qualify)), AGS (1987 (2 GPs)), Coloni (1989 (4 GPs)), EuroBrun (1990 (2 GPs)), Beneton (1990 (2 GPs)-1991 (11 GPs)), Jordan (1991 (2 GPs)), Minardi (1991 (1 GP)), Andrea Moda (1992 (1 GP)) and Forti Corse (1995 (17 GPs)). He started 42 Grands Prix, 1 Fastest Lap, 1 Podium and 15 Points. Best ranked in the World Championship: 10th in 1991.

Teammates in Formula One were: Elio de Angelis, Pierre-Henri Raphanel, Enrico Bertaggia, Claudio Langes, Nelson Piquet, Andrea de Cesaris, Pierluigi Martini, Perry McCarthy and Pedro Diniz.

In 1995, Roberto Moreno and Pedro Diniz drove for Forti Corse, piloting the Forti FG01, the last Formula 1 car to use a manual transmission, a system other teams had already replaced with semi-automatic gearboxes.

Roberto Moreno was dismissed from the Benetton team and replaced by Michael Schumacher starting from the 1991 Italian Grand Prix. Loopholes in the contract of Moreno allowed his dismissal. He sought legal action and obtained an injunction against Benetton in this race, which would have prevented the team from running Schumacher in his place that weekend. Bernie Ecclestone helped broker a deal to resolve the complex legal dispute involving both Benetton and Jordan (who also had a contract dispute with Schumacher). Moreno agreed to drop the injunction after accepting a financial settlement, which was the remaining value of his contract, which freed up the Benetton seat for Schumacher, while Moreno himself joined Jordan.

Champion: International Formula 3000 (1988), New Zealand Formula Pacific Series (1982), British Formula Ford (1980).

Winner: 29th Macau Grand Prix (1982), 46th Australian GP - Formula Atlantic (1981), Selangor Grand Prix (1981), 9° Formula Ford Festival (1980), Brazilian Karting Championship - 125cc (1976).