Pedro Rodríguez

Pedro Rodríguez de la Vega (18 January 1940 – 11 July 1971) was a Mexican racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Rodríguez won two Formula One Grands Prix across nine seasons. In endurance racing, Rodríguez won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in with Ford, and was a two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona with Porsche.

Born and raised in Mexico City, Rodríguez was the older brother of racing driver Ricardo Rodríguez, who became the first Mexican driver to compete in Formula One in 1961. Both brothers started racing at an early age, first on motorbikes and then moving to cars. Following his brother's death in a racing accident in 1962, Pedro briefly considered retiring from racing, but decided to carry on. In sportscar racing his first major win was with his brother in the 1961 Paris 1000km, driving a Ferrari 250 GT. He began his Formula One career in 1963, won the 1967 South African Grand Prix in a Cooper and the 1970 Belgian Grand Prix in a BRM. He won the 1968 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Ford GT40 and won eight races in the Porsche 917 across 1970 and 1971.

In July 1971, Rodríguez was killed at the Norisring in West Germany, driving a Ferrari 512 M in an Interserie sportscar race.

Personal life

Rodríguez was born in Mexico City, Mexico, the son of Pedro Natalio Rodríguez and Concepción De la Vega. He had an older sister, Conchita, and three younger brothers: Ricardo, Federico (died at two months of age) and Alejandro.

At the age of 15, Rodríguez's father sent him to Western Military Academy in Alton, Illinois, in order to learn English and to develop more discipline.

The Rodríguez brothers raced bicycles and motorcycles, becoming Mexican national motorcycle champions in 1953 and 1954. Pedro made his international debut in cars at Nassau in 1957 in a Ferrari.

Rodríguez married Angelina (née Damy), in Mexico in 1961, although he had a girlfriend in England, Glenda Foreman, with whom he lived in Bray on Thames in his later years, but left no children.

Rodríguez always traveled with a Mexican flag and a record of the national anthem because when he won the 1967 South African GP the organizers did not have the Mexican anthem, and instead played the Mexican hat dance.

Jo Ramírez was a very close friend to both Rodríguez and his younger brother, Ricardo.

Career Rodríguez in his BRM P133 during the 1968 German Grand Prix. Rodríguez began racing with bicycles at eight years old. He was a class winner in the Mexican Championship by 1950. He started racing a Adler motorcycle, winning Mexico's national championship in 1952 and 1954. In 1952, he entered a rally in a Ford, but achieved little. Rodríguez claimed seventh at the 1960 Targa Florio, again in the 196 S, which spent time off the pavement as well as on. He failed to qualify at Indianapolis, in an Aston Martin-powered Cooper T54, but took part in his first Grand Prix in the works Lotus at Watkins Glen and Magdalena Mixhuca. Rodríguez failed to finish both times.

For 1964, Rodríguez again won the Daytona Continental, as well as the sports car Canadian Grand Prix, was second at the Paris 1000 km, and third in the Bahamas Tourist Trophy. This was the first ever Grand Prix win for a Mexican driver. Cooper manager Roy Salvadori allowed Rodríguez to drive the practice car, over the objections of teammate Jochen Rindt, who had demanded Rodríguez's car, with strong support from Rindt's close friend Jackie Stewart. Rodríguez's smooth, consistent driving earned him victory after Denny Hulme had had a lengthy pit stop and local privateer John Love's Tasman Cooper needed a late fuel stop. Rindt, by contrast, retired the other Cooper-Maserati after 38 laps. Rodríguez drove a controlled season in 1967 as No. 2 to Rindt. Though usually slower than his teammate, he built up experience in the older and heavier T81, while Rindt was given the improved T81B and later the brand new T86. A mid-season accident in a Protos-Ford, at the Formula Two event at Enna, sidelined him for three Grand Prix. also the only other race in the season where the Coopers were competitive.

Rodríguez's performance at Zandvoort earned Rodríguez a better drive with BRM in 1968. Rodríguez proved himself excellent in the wet at Zandvoort and Rouen where he got his only fastest lap in F1 during the French GP. Lack of power meant he had to settle for second behind Bruce McLaren during the Belgian GP at Francorchamps.

The BRM P133 faded through the year from lack of testing time after the death of Mike Spence, whom the team's owners favoured. Nevertheless, Rodríguez led the Spanish Grand Prix from Chris Amon for 28 laps until he made a mistake and spun off. At the end of the year, despite Rodríguez's good performances, BRM team manager Louis Stanley released Rodríguez to the Parnell BRM privateer team.

The Reg Parnell Racing BRMs proved to have hopeless engines, and after Monaco, Rodríguez left and signed for Ferrari for the remainder of the 1969 Grand Prix and sports car series.

Pedro Rodríguez second place, 20 June 1971 North Holland, Zandvoort. This would be the last podium for Rodríguez who would die 21 days later.

Reentering F1 in the British Grand Prix, Rodríguez matched teammate Amon's pace in practice and led Amon by a whisker in the race. The uncompetitive 312s ran midfield until Rodríguez's car broke and Amon's engine blew for the second race in a row. Given the hopelessness of the 312 V12, the frustration of his drivers, and the slow progress with getting the new flat-12 F1 car ready, Enzo Ferrari would rather have run two Italian drivers for the rest of the season, but the Brambilla brothers, Vittorio and Ernesto, proved too slow. So, Ferrari ran Rodríguez in the last four races of the season, in NART American racing colours for the North American races, but still, effectively, as a Ferrari works team. All in all, Rodríguez managed a fourth place in 1968; sixth in 1964, 1967 and 1970; and seventh in 1965 and 1969; Jean-Pierre Beltoise got the third place in a Matra.

The power of the V12 engines was particularly suited to the fast circuits with few really slow corners, such as Francorchamps, Monza, and to a degree Brands Hatch and the Nürburgring, and that was usually the case with the BRM, Matra, and Weslake engined cars. A drive at Circuit Mont-Tremblant saw him finish fourth. The need to pit in the last laps for fuel prevented him from winning at Watkins Glen, the highest paying event of the year at the time (US$50,000). The winner was Emerson Fittipaldi, who won his first race in F1.

After many years racing for Ferrari in the World Championship of Makes for sports cars, Rodríguez signed for JW-Gulf-Porsche in 1970 and over the next two years won eight races driving a Porsche 917, contributing to Porsche winning in the World Sportscar Championship.

Rodríguez competed in multiple motorsport disciplines, including Can-Am, NASCAR, and rallying. In 1970, he also won a North American ice racing championship in an event held at Sand Lake, after being invited by the Alaska Sports Car Club in Anchorage.

Rodríguez debuted in NASCAR at Trenton Speedway in 1959, finishing 6th. At the 1963 Firecracker 400 he qualified ninth but retired after an engine failure. The Mexican finished fifth in the 1965 World 600, his best result. At the 1971 Daytona 500 he finished 13th. His last NASCAR race was Miller High Life 500, where he retired early with electrical issues

Rodríguez drove a Ferrari 312 P Coupé in the CanAm round of Bridgehampton in 1969, finishing fifth. In 1970, he finished third at Riverside and fifth at Laguna Seca Raceway with a factory BRM P154.

The 1971 Formula One season could have seen Rodríguez as a championship contender, with a BRM P160 being prepared by Tony Southgate, and for once BRM had consistently good engines. BRM, however, was overextended, trying to run three, and later four, cars. Rodríguez challenged Jacky Ickx in the rain during the Dutch Grand Prix, and only just failed to win.

Death Rodríguez was killed in an Interserie sports car race at Norisring in Nuremberg, West Germany, on 11 July 1971. Rodríguez was at the wheel of a Ferrari 512 M of Herbert Müller Racing, his friend and teammate at the Targa Florio in 1971. A contemporary source reported that trackside photographers noticed his right front tyre coming away from the rim under heavy braking for the sharp s-bend as early as the 10th lap. On lap 12, the tyre came off completely, sending the car into a wall before rebounding across the track and catching fire. He died shortly after he was extracted from the wreck.

Legacy In 2016, in an academic paper that reported a mathematical modeling study that assessed the relative influence of driver and machine, Rodríguez was ranked the 24th-best Formula One driver of all time.

After winning the LMP2 class at the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans, the first class victory for a Mexican driver since Rodríguez, Ricardo González recognized Rodríguez as his hero.

Commemoration

The first hairpin at Daytona International Speedway (the right-hand hairpin) is named the Pedro Rodríguez curve. In 1973 the Mexico City race track Magdalena Mixuhca, where F1, Champ Car, NASCAR and other series race was renamed for him and Ricardo: Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez (Rodríguez Brothers Autodrome).

In July 2006, a bronze plaque was placed at the site of his crash in Nuremberg, a joint effort by Scuderia Rodríguez (the friends foundation) and the city authorities. Its Secretary General, Carlos Jalife, published the Rodríguez brothers' biography in December 2006, with an English translation which won the Motor Press Guild Book of the Year award in 2009.

Sergio Pérez wore a specially designed crash helmet tributing Pedro Rodríguez for the 2022 Monaco Grand Prix in which he went on to claim his third win in Formula One. The helmet featured Rodríguez's helmet colours and, on the top, Rodríguez's and Perez's combined wins and podiums before Perez's victory in the 2022 Monaco Grand Prix, as the only two Mexican Formula One drivers to achieve race victories. Below the statistics was written "AND COUNTING" and the phrase "GRACIAS PEDRO" (thank you Pedro) below that.

BRM P153

In 2024, the Mexican driver Adrián Fernández acquired the BRM P153 with which Rodríguez won the 1970 Belgian Grand Prix from a private collector.

Racing record

Formula One World Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 WDC Pts. 1963 Team Lotus Lotus 25 Climax FWMV 1.5 V8 MON BEL NED FRA GBR GER ITA USA MEX RSA NC 0 1964 North American Racing Team Ferrari 156 Aero Ferrari 178 1.5 V6 MON NED BEL FRA GBR GER AUT ITA USA MEX 22nd 1 1965 North American Racing Team Ferrari 1512 Ferrari 207 1.5 V12 RSA MON BEL FRA GBR NED GER ITA USA MEX 14th 2 1966 Team Lotus Lotus 33 Climax FWMV 2.0 V8 MON BEL FRA GBR NED MEX NC 0 BRM P60 2.0 V8 USA Lotus 44 (F2) Ford Cosworth SCA 1.0 L4 GER1 ITA 1967 Cooper Car Company Cooper T81 Maserati 9/F1 3.0 V12 RSA MON NED BEL FRA GBR GER CAN ITA USA MEX 6th 15 1968 Owen Racing Organisation BRM P126 BRM P101 3.0 V12 RSA 6th 18 BRM P133 ESP MON BEL NED FRA GBR GER CAN USA MEX BRM P138 ITA 1969 Reg Parnell Racing BRM P126 BRM P101 3.0 V12 RSA ESP MON 14th 3 Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC Ferrari 312/69 Ferrari 255C 3.0 V12 NEDDNA FRA GBR GER ITA North American Racing Team CAN USA MEX 1970 Owen Racing Organisation BRM P153 BRM P142 3.0 V12 RSA 7th 23 Yardley Team BRM ESP MON BEL NED FRA GBR GER AUT ITA CAN USA MEX 1971 Yardley Team BRM BRM P160 BRM P142 3.0 V12 RSA ESP MON NED FRA GBR GER AUT ITA CAN USA 10th 9

1 – Ineligible for Formula One points, because he drove with a Formula Two car.

Formula One Non-Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1965 Team Lotus Lotus 25 Climax V8 ROC SYR SMT INT MED RAN 1967 Cooper Car Company Cooper T81 Maserati V12 ROC SPC INT SYR OUL ESP 1968 Owen Racing Organisation BRM P133 BRM V12 ROC INT Reg Parnell Racing BRM P126 OUL 1969 Reg Parnell Racing BRM P126 BRM V12 ROC INT MAD OUL 1971 Yardley Team BRM BRM P160 BRM V12 ARG ROC QUE SPR INT RIN OUL VIC Source:

Complete Tasman Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Rank Pts 1968 Owen Racing Organization BRM P261 BRM 2.1 V8 PUK WIG WAR LON 7 8 BRM P126 BRM 2.5 V12 LEV TER SUR SAN

Pedro Rodríguez at Ferrari

1962 Le Mans-winning Ferrari 330 TRI-LM, bought by the Rodríguezes through NART. Rodríguez raced several times in it.

Pedro Rodríguez at Porsche

Pedro Rodríguez won eight races in 1970 and 1971 in a similar Porsche 917.

Pedro Rodríguez in the 24 Hours of Le Mans