Tiago Monteiro

He also competed in the Le Mans 24 Hours race, finishing 17th overall and sixth in the GT2 class.

In the International Renault Finals held at Estoril, Monteiro claimed the win after taking pole position and the fastest lap of the race.

Tiago Vagaroso da Costa Monteiro (born 24 July 1976) is a Portuguese professional racing driver currently competing in the World Touring Car Cup, driving a Honda Civic TCR for Engstler Motorsport.

Pedro Lamy had previously held this record before with one point and sixth place achieved at the 1995 Australian Grand Prix with Minardi.

Born in Porto, Monteiro was inspired by his father to begin racing, and drove in the 1997 French Porsche Carrera Cup.

He took five wins and five pole positions to become B-class champion and rookie of the year.

In 1998, he competed in the French F3 Championship, finishing 12th overall and taking the rookie of the year award.

He continued in the championship in 1999, taking one win and three other podium positions to finish sixth overall.

In 2000, Monteiro again competed in French F3, this time finishing second in the championship after taking four wins throughout the season.

He also competed in the single Formula 3 European Championship double-header race, finishing second overall with one win at Spa-Francorchamps.

He also competed in a couple of one-off events, coming second in the Korea Super Prix and ninth at the famous Macau Grand Prix.

In the Lamborghini Super Trophy, he achieved the fastest lap at Magny-Cours, and took pole position and the fastest lap at Laguna Seca Raceway.

In 2001, Monteiro again finished second overall in the French F3 Championship after taking six pole positions, four wins and four podiums.

Also competing in the French GT Championship, he managed four pole positions, two class wins and five podium finishes in the GTB class.

A one-off entry in the Formula France series saw him win both races, and in the Andros Trophy, he did one fastest lap with a best finishing position of fourth.

In 2002, he stepped up to the F3000 Championship with the Super Nova team, taking five top-ten finishes on his way to 12th in the championship standings.

He also completed the Renault F1 Driver Development Scheme, and had his first taste of a Formula One car, testing with the Renault team at Barcelona.

In 2003, he joined Fittipaldi Dingman Racing for the Champ Car World Series, achieving a front row start in Mexico City and leading two races.

Monteiro was signed up as an official Minardi F1 test driver for the 2004 season, but also competed in the Nissan World Series with Carlin Motorsport.

He was named Rookie of the Year after finishing second in the championship behind Heikki Kovalainen, and was ranked fifth in Autosport magazine's top ten drivers in the Formula One "breeding ground" championships.

Ironically, one of his surnames, "Vagaroso", means "slow" in Portuguese.

He competed in Formula One between 2005 and 2006 for the Jordan Grand Prix, Midland and Spyker MF1 teams – all different iterations of the same team as it was bought by new owners during a two-year stint as part of the Formula One paddock.

He is the only Portuguese driver to have scored a Formula One podium finish, during the controversial 2005 United States Grand Prix.

After the Midland Group bought Jordan Grand Prix, Monteiro was announced as a full-time race driver alongside Indian Narain Karthikeyan for the 2005 season.

In the United States Grand Prix he achieved his only podium finish in controversial circumstances.

Due to concerns over tyre safety, the Michelin-equipped teams pulled out of the race, not taking their place on the grid, and the race was contested only by the three Bridgestone-equipped teams.

Monteiro finished third out of six drivers.

At the podium ceremony, at which none of the scheduled dignitaries were present, Ferrari drivers Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello quietly accepted their awards, and quickly exited.

Monteiro stayed behind to celebrate his first podium finish alone.

The fans in attendance, while booing the majority of the ceremony, rewarded the Portuguese driver with a round of applause.

As of the 2005 United States Grand Prix, Monteiro is currently the most successful Portuguese driver in Formula One history.

Also of note, as of the Belgian Grand Prix (where he also scored another point), Monteiro had finished every race of the 2005 season, breaking the record for consecutive finishes for a rookie driver in Formula One, held by Jackie Stewart (1965 season) and Olivier Panis (1994 season), who finished their first six races.

Shortly before the 2005 Turkish Grand Prix, Monteiro suffered a toothache that was severe enough to prevent him taking part in the race.

However, his team principal Colin Kolles, a qualified dentist, performed emergency root canal surgery and Monteiro was cleared to race.

Monteiro started racing in the World Touring Car Championship in 2007 with Seat Sport, and remained with the Spanish manufacturer until 2012, when he switched to the new Honda team late in the season.

He finished the year with 10 top-ten finishes, scoring 29 points to rank 15th overall in the championship.

This record stood until the 2013 season, when British driver Max Chilton finished all 19 races.

He was leading the drivers' championship after 12 races in 2017, but injuries sustained in a crash in testing forced him to withdraw from the rest of the season.

Monteiro is a 12-time World Touring Car race winner and achieved the eighth most wins in the WTCC, until it became the World Touring Car Cup in 2018.

He still remains with the Japanese manufacturer in 2019, having achieved his best championship finish of third in 2016, and also helped Honda to win the manufacturers' championship in 2013.