58 Facts About Pedro Diniz

Pedro Diniz first drove in Formula One with Forti for the 1995 season.

Pedro Diniz left Sauber after the 2000 season and bought a share in the Prost team, which folded a year later.

Pedro Diniz was considered a pay driver during his career due to his family backing.

Pedro Diniz scored 10 championship points during his six-year Formula One career.

Since leaving motorsport, Pedro Diniz founded the Formula Renault 2.0 Brazil Championship which he ran from 2002 and 2006, later becoming a partner in Pao de Acucar and operates an organic produce and dairy farm alongside his wife Tatiana Pedro Diniz.

Pedro Diniz is a board member of Food Tank, a non-profit organization that spotlights environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable ways of alleviating hunger, obesity, and poverty and works to create networks of people, organizations, and content to push for food system change.

Pedro Diniz was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on 22 May 1970.

Pedro Diniz's father was Abilio dos Santos Diniz, a businessman who used to own the Brazilian distribution chain Companhia Brasileira de Distribuicao and the supermarket chain Pao de Acucar.

Pedro Diniz struggled to find a good education and went to several schools around the local area.

Pedro Diniz began karting at the age of eighteen, and his career was funded by his father who supported his son's hobby.

Pedro Diniz competed in several events around Brazil and his first racing success came when he won the Two Hours of Sao Paulo.

Aged 19, Pedro Diniz moved up into car racing, competing in the Brazilian Formula Ford championship, where he finished ninth in the Drivers' Championship.

In 1990, Pedro Diniz moved to the Reyanud Alfa team and finished ninth overall, with his best performances being a podium position at Interlagos.

For 1991, Pedro Diniz moved to the British Formula 3 with the West Surrey Racing team, finishing 11th overall.

Pedro Diniz moved to the Edenbridge Racing team in 1992, driving a Reynard Mugen and took two podiums en route to eighth place overall.

Pedro Diniz entered Formula One, the highest category of circuit racing defined by the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile, motorsport's world governing body, with the Forti team, as team-mate to Roberto Moreno in 1995.

Pedro Diniz did not finish the next race in Spain due to a gearbox problem and finished tenth in Monaco.

Pedro Diniz retired from the next five races he entered, primarily from car issues and spun off into retirement at Magny-Cours.

Pedro Diniz subsequently finished every remaining race of the season, apart from the Grand Prix held at Suzuka where he spun off.

Pedro Diniz finished the season scoring no points and was unclassified in the Drivers' Championship.

Pedro Diniz's good finishing record enabled him to establish himself as a steady, dependable driver.

In December, Pedro Diniz signed for the Ligier team for 1996, despite team owner Tom Walkinshaw initially refusing to hold talks with the Brazilian driver.

Pedro Diniz finished the season 15th in the Drivers' Championship with two points, six places and 11 points behind Panis.

An important factor was the amount of sponsorship Pedro Diniz brought to Arrows, estimated to be worth $13 million.

For 1997, Pedro Diniz was confident heading into the season and his decision to join Arrows, saying: "The all-round strength of the package Tom [Walkinshaw] has put together for 1997 made the decision very easy for me".

Pedro Diniz started his season with a finish in Australia and later suffered from consecutive retirements in the next five races.

Pedro Diniz managed to finish eighth in Canada, before picking up further consecutive retirements in the next four races.

Pedro Diniz managed to secure a seventh-place finish in Belgium, however he had been running in an excellent third place before a problem at his first pit stop dropped him out of contention.

Pedro Diniz suffering a further retirement in Italy, however he managed to secure finishes in the next three consecutive races, which included a points scoring finish at the Luxembourg Grand Prix and retired from the final race of the season at the European Grand Prix.

Pedro Diniz's reputation grew throughout the season from a mere pay driver to a genuine racing driver, he managed to out-qualify teammate Hill in Belgium and Japan, two of the most technically challenging tracks on the calendar, having a number of strong race performances.

In October, Arrows announced that Pedro Diniz had signed a one-year extension to his contract, remaining with the team for 1998.

Pedro Diniz finished the season in sixteenth place in the Drivers' Championship, with two points, and finished four places behind team-mate Hill.

Pedro Diniz remained at Arrows for 1998, partnered by Mika Salo.

Pedro Diniz endured a torrid start: his car suffered gearbox problems in the opening three rounds and endured engine failures in the races at San Marino and Spain.

Pedro Diniz scored his first point of the season with a sixth-place finish in Monaco and managed to finish the races in Canada and France.

Pedro Diniz suffered three more consecutive retirements, and finished the races in Hungary and Belgium, in eleventh and fifth respectively.

Pedro Diniz finished the season by retiring in the final three races.

Pedro Diniz finished 14th in the Drivers' Championship, and was tied on points with team-mate Salo.

Pedro Diniz argued that the Arrows option contained a clause allowing him to leave if Arrows did not deliver performances required by the driver.

For 1999, Pedro Diniz partnered experienced driver Jean Alesi at Sauber.

Pedro Diniz endured a torrid start: Pedro Diniz was forced into retirement in the first five races held in the season; and in the sixth race of the season held in Canada, he managed to score his first point of the season with a sixth-place finish.

Pedro Diniz suffered a retirement at the next round in France, before clinching consecutive sixth-place finishes in the next two races and later suffered further consecutive retirements in the following six races.

In late August, it was announced that Pedro Diniz would remain at Sauber for 2000.

At the European Grand Prix, Pedro Diniz was hit by Benetton driver Alexander Wurz who sent the Sauber driver into a barrel roll and suffered a bruised knee and shoulder, resulting from his car's roll hoop becoming damaged.

Pedro Diniz finished the season fourteenth in the Drivers' Championship and scored three points.

For 2000, Pedro Diniz again competed with Sauber and was partnered with Mika Salo.

Pedro Diniz started off the season by retiring with transmission problems in Australia.

Pedro Diniz was involved in a collision with Giancarlo Fisichella's Benetton in Austria for which he received a stop-go penalty, and in Germany, Diniz collided with Prost driver Jean Alesi forcing both drivers to retire.

Pedro Diniz finished the year scoring no points and was unclassified in the Drivers' Championship.

Pedro Diniz became unhappy at Sauber over a test session shoot out at Mugello against fellow countryman Enrique Bernoldi.

Pedro Diniz decided to withdraw from active motorsport and his family purchased a 40 percent stake of the Prost team for $10 million and took a management role within the team.

In late 2001, the Pedro Diniz family sought to purchase the remaining stake in the Prost team, but negotiations with team principal Alain Prost resulted in no agreement.

Pedro Diniz announced the creation of a new racing series, the Formula Renault 2.0 Brazil Championship in November 2001.

Pedro Diniz was a partner of the Wonder Inn, Fernando de Noronha between July 2003 and May 2009.

Pedro Diniz subsequently became a partner in his father's supermarket chain and operates an organic produce and dairy farm.

Pedro Diniz married Tatiana who works alongside Diniz and has two children.

Alongside his organic produce farm, Pedro Diniz founded Instituto Toca, a non-profit school and research initiative for sustainability.

Pedro Diniz is currently on the board of Peninsula Participacoes.