Pedro and his younger brother Ricardo were indulged with high-performance cars from an early age by their wealthy father, and first came to the notice of the European racing fraternity in a Ferrari at Le Mans in 1960, where they almost won.

However, while Ricardo shot straight into the works Ferrari Formula One team, Pedro's career needed a long time to take off, before he finally got a full-time drive with Cooper in 1967. Thanks to his car's reliability and to heavy attrition he won his first race for the team, switching to BRM in 1968, where his spirited driving lifted the team's morale after the death of Mike Spence at Indianapolis. He had a part-time role in Formula One in 1969, before returning to BRM in 1970, where he took one of the all-time classic victories, beating off race-long pressure from Chris Amon's March.

This eccentric, who went everywhere with his famous deerstalker hat and bottle of Tabasco sauce for use at the world's finest restaurants, was now at the top of his game. He was acknowledged as a wet weather ace, and had established himself as the world's leading sports car driver.

Halfway through 1971, which looked set to offer Pedro even more success, he accepted an offer to drive in an insignificant Interseries race in Germany. While he was dicing for the lead, a slower car edged him into the wall and his Ferrari burst into flames. The Mexican sadly died shortly after he was extricated from the wreck.

Reproduced from The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Formula One published by Carlton Books