There are many things that can be said about Ricardo Rodriguez – and most of them have been said already.

Essentially a sixties Stefan Bellof, Ricardo Rodríguez de la Vega will always be remembered as the wild and fearless Mexican who entered Grand Prix racing with a bang to die just over a year later in his inaugural home GP. As with Bellof, and for that matter Tony Brise and Chris Bristow as well, their statistics are hardly a reflection of the thought common at the time that a potential future World Champion had been prematurely taken away from us.

Ricardo, known in his native country as El Chamaco, is also the younger brother of Pedro and widely regarded as the most gifted of the two – although some people beg to differ with that opinion, claiming that Ricardo was daring and foolhardy to an extent that would never have allowed him to mature into a solid championship contender.

Pedro was just 20 and his brother Ricardo two years younger when US Ferrari importer Luigi Chinetti dispatched them to Le Mans in 1958 at the wheel of a Ferrari 250 “Testa Rossa.” There the Mexican kids put the fear of God into all their rivals and would have won the race had the car lasted. Thereafter, Pedro’s international racing career blossomed in less spectacular style.

He hit the headlines in 1967 when he scored a lucky win in the South African GP driving a Cooper-Maserati, but it was for his exploits driving for BRM and the JW Gulf Porsche endurance team which really put him on the map three years later.

Just as he was developing into one of the sport’s greatest all-rounders, he was killed in a minor league sports car race in Germany during the summer of 1971.

“Graeme Murray Walker OBE, known as Murray Walker, is a Formula 1 motorsport commentator.”
“He is famous in the United Kingdom for his very distinctive enthusiastic commentary style. He regularly made comments (known to many as Murrayisms) in the heat of the moment that, upon analysis a moment later, were ridiculous; for example, as a car arrived for a pit stop during a race he once said “…I’ll stop the startwatch!”.”

Rio de Janeiro, Brasil (1 agosto 2007).- Recibió la bandera a cuadros tres veces a bordo de un bólido de Fórmula 1, pero en las calles de Brasilia, el brasileño Nelson Piquet no pudo conservar su licencia de conducir y tuvo que ingresar a una escuela de manejo.

Piquet, de 54 años y campeón en 1981, 1983 y 1987, se presentó a las clases con su esposa, Viviane, cuya licencia también fue suspendida por infracciones como exceso de velocidad, mal estacionamiento e ignorar señales.

En su primera clase, Nelson y Viviane se sentaron juntos en primera fila y asistieron, al igual que otros infractores sancionados, a la lección sobre “Conducción Defensiva”. “Creo que tenemos que pagar por los actos que hacemos”, dijo Piquet. “Hay que sacar una enseñanza de esto”. Los Piquet no pueden conducir en Brasilia hasta recuperar su licencia, para lo cual, además de las 30 horas de clase, deberán contestar correctamente el 70 por ciento de un examen de 40 preguntas. Tributo al Almirante!