90 F1 RACING AUGUST 2019By now, though, Ricardo’s style had begunto change. Decidedly
less restrained than before, he worked his cars hard, and had a
lot of accidents. Chinetti, however, was a fundamental believer.
Always a man with the ear of Enzo Ferrari, he talked up both
Rodríguez brothers, and the wily Enzo allowed Don Pedro to buy
them into the factory team. While Ricardo seized the opportunity,
Pedro, still not certain he wanted to be a pro, decided against it.
Back in the day it was Ferrari’s custom toenter extra cars for
the Italian Grand Prix, and in 1961 five were on hand, for Phil Hill,
Wolfgang von Trips, Richie Ginther, Giancarlo Baghetti – and
Rodríguez, at 19 the youngest Ferrari driver of all time.
To make your F1debut at Monza in a Ferrari is to face as much
pressure asracing can exe rt, and the consequences could have been
disastrous.Astonishingly Ricardo qualified second, butretire d
early froma tragic race thatcost the lives of von Tripsand sev eral
spectators. Enzo Ferrari was condemned by the Vaticanand th e
Catholic press and,as eve r,rode out the storm, announcinghis
programmefor 1962, nominatingRodríguezas one of his drivers.
It would be a poor season. Dominant the previous year, Ferrari
was overwhelmed by superior British chassis, powered by new V8
engines from BRM and Coventry-Climax. Only Hill had a regular
drive, the Old Man constantly shuffling the rest of hispack.championship seasoninvariably ended at
Watkins Glen in October, but timewas there were
also non-championship F1 races, and in November
1962 most teams gathered in Mexico Cityfor the
country’s inauguralGran Premio.
Ferrari, though, did not enter, and for the organisers thiswas
potentially disastrous: for one thing, their absence detracted from
event; more fundamentally, Ricardo Rodríguez de la Vega, at 20
already a national hero in Mexico, was a Ferrari driver.
Contractswere more malleable in those days. Rodríguez,
desperateto race before his own people, asked Rob Walker if he
coulddrivehisLotus 24in Mexico,andinstantlyfellin love with th e
car, finding it way nimbler than the ‘sharknose’ Ferrari he hadbeen
driving. Fastest formost ofthe opening session,his time was beaten
by John Surtees, and in the closing minutes he went out again.
In the track’s original configuration, the final corner – Peraltada- was a banked, bumpy, right-hander, and itwas there that the
Lotus suffered suspension failure, and hit the guardrail. Thrown
from the car, Rodríguez died shortly afterward.
Throughout Mexico there was an outpouring ofgrief, and for
the family it was a traumatictime. The father, Don Pedro, had
spent freely on his sons, wishing to see them high in the racing
firmament. Of the two, Ricardo was regarded as the more gifted;
for Pedro it seemed more like a hobby.
He was there the day his brother died, and briefly renounced
racing, but won the Daytona 3 Hours on his own in 1963 and in
1964 the Daytona 2000Kms with Phil Hill. Someyears would pass
before Pedro committed himself to fulltime racing, but he would
achieve greatnessbefore dying atthe Norisring in 1971.
In his early days Pedro was something of a wild man, while
Ricardo, by contrast, was silky with a car. At 15, Ricardo was
racing a Porsche Spyder, and winning with it, and in 1958 was
mortified to have his entry for LeMans rejected. Sixteen, said the
Automobile Clubde l’Ouest, was too young. Pedro, all of 18, did go
to La Sarthe, however, and in 1959 Ricardo got topartner him in
an OSCA. Thereafter, they frequently drove together, usually
in Ferraris for Luigi Chinetti’s North American Racing Team.
NIGELROEBUCK’S
HEROES
FORMULA ONE
PICTURESBACK IN
THE DAY THE
WORLDRICARDO RODRÍGUEZ
WhenRicardoRodríguezmadehisF1debutaged19hebecame
Ferrari’syoungesteverF1driverandremainssotothisday