Pedro Diniz

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Pedro Diniz
Born	22 1970 (1970-Template:Pad2digit-Template:Pad2digit) São Paulo, Brazil
Died	{{{death_date}}} {{{death_place}}}
Formula One career
Nationality	Brazilian
Years	1995–2000

Pedro Paulo Diniz (born in São Paulo on May 22, 1970) is a racing driver from Brazil. He participated in 99 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on March 26, 1995. He scored a total of 10 championship points.

Biography

Diniz driving for Forti at the 1995 British Grand Prix.

One of the richest men ever to sit in a Formula One cockpit, Diniz's motor racing career progressed as a result of his father, Abílio dos Santos Diniz, owning the Brazilian distribution company Companhia Brasileira de Distribuição and the supermarket chain Pão de Açúcar. After several years in junior formulae, he joined the Forti F1 team in 1995, largely funded by the Diniz family's wealth and sponsorship connections. This in turn led to a long-term marketing deal with Parmalat, backing he took throughout his career. Diniz's first year was unsuccessful; the Forti cars proving to be at least several seconds a lap slower than the ultimate pace.

Diniz moved to the more established Ligier team for 1996, a blow to the Forti team's finances which saw it fail to complete its second season in the sport. At the Argentine Grand Prix, his car burst into flames after a pit-stop due to its fuel valve sticking open; British newspaper The Sun famously printed the photo alongside the headline "Diniz in the Oven". However, he also scored his first championship points at the Spanish and Italian Grands Prix, both races of attrition in which he impressed by staying in the race.

For 1997, Diniz moved to the Arrows team, where he was partnered by reigning champion Damon Hill after the latter's departure from the Williams outfit. Diniz embarrassed Hill by outqualifying him at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours in France, the challenging Spa circuit in Belgium, and then again at the tough Suzuka Circuit. He also took a personal best finish of fifth at the Luxembourg Grand Prix. He remained at the team in 1998 alongside Mika Salo, matching his higher-rated team-mate for points.

Diniz driving for Sauber at the 2000 Canadian Grand Prix.

Two seasons with Sauber were largely unspectacular in terms of results, although he outscored team-mate Jean Alesi in 1999. He had a huge crash in the 1999 European Grand Prix, from which he was lucky to walk away after his car's roll hoop failed as a result of the impact. While his reputation had advanced from his early days, it dropped again in 2000 after he failed to score a point for the first time since 1995. At Hockenheim he side-swiped Alesi (now driving for Prost) resulting in a huge crash, and was also given a stop-go penalty for an incident in Austria which damaged several cars. He decided to retire at the end of the season, buying into the Prost team, which folded a year later. By that time his relationship with team-owner Alain Prost had soured.

After Formula One

Diniz returned to Brazil and operated the Brazilian Formula Renault championship from 2002 to 2006. Currently, he operates several companies in the country.

Helmet

Diniz's helmet design is a base colour of dark blue with three arrows shaded from yellow to red: two around the sides and one over the top. It is based on the design of compatriot Carlos Pace.

Racing record

Prior To F1

• 1987-88 : Karting
• 1989 : Formula Ford Brazil
• 1990 : Formula Three Sudamericana
• 1991-92 : British Formula Three
• 1993-94 : Formula 3000

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	DC	Points
1993	Forti Corse	DON Ret	SIL Ret	PAU DNQ	PER 7	HOC Ret	NÜR 16	SPA 14	MAG 11	NOG 14	NC	0
1994	Forti Corse	SIL Ret	PAU Ret	CAT 10	PER Ret	HOC Ret	SPA 9	EST 4	MAG Ret		13th	3

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Points
1995	Parmalat Forti Ford	Forti FG01	Ford EDB 3.0 V8	BRA 10	ARG NC	SMR NC	ESP Ret	MON 10	CAN Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL 13	ITA 9	POR 16	EUR 13	PAC 17	JPN Ret	AUS 7	NC	0
1996	Equipe Ligier Gauloises Blondes	Ligier JS43	Mugen Honda MF301HA 3.0 V10	AUS 10	BRA 8	ARG Ret	EUR 10	SMR 7	MON Ret	ESP 6	CAN Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA 6	POR Ret	JPN Ret		15th	2
1997	Danka Arrows Yamaha	Arrows A18	Yamaha OX11A 3.0 V10	AUS 10	BRA Ret	ARG Ret	SMR Ret	MON Ret	ESP Ret	CAN 8	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL 7	ITA Ret	AUT 13	LUX 5	JPN 12	EUR Ret	16th	2
1998	Danka Zepter Arrows	Arrows A19	Arrows T2-F1 3.0 V10	AUS Ret	BRA Ret	ARG Ret	SMR Ret	ESP Ret	MON 6	CAN 9	FRA 14	GBR Ret	AUT Ret	GER Ret	HUN 11	BEL 5	ITA Ret	LUX Ret	JPN Ret		14th	3
1999	Red Bull Sauber Petronas	Sauber C18	Petronas SPE-03A 3.0 V10	AUS Ret	BRA Ret	SMR Ret	MON Ret	ESP Ret	CAN 6	FRA Ret	GBR 6	AUT 6	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	EUR Ret	MAL Ret	JPN 11		14th	3
2000	Red Bull Sauber Petronas	Sauber C19	Petronas SPE 04A 3.0 V10	AUS Ret	BRA DNS	SMR 8	GBR 11	ESP Ret	EUR 7	MON Ret	CAN 10	FRA 11	AUT 9	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL 11	ITA 8	USA 8	JPN 11	MAL Ret	18th	0

External links

• PPD Holding official website - Pedro Diniz's company Template:Pt icon

Template:Forti

This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Pedro Diniz. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.