Pedro Rodríguez de la Vega (18 January 1940 – 11 July 1971) was a Mexican racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1963 to 1971.

He married Angelina (née Damy), in Mexico in 1961, although he had a girlfriend in England, Glenda Foreman, with whom he lived in Bray on Thames in his later years, but left no children.

[5] Rodríguez came back every year to Le Mans, fourteen times in total, and won in 1968, co-driving with Belgian Lucien Bianchi, sharing a Ford GT40 for the JW–Gulf team.

[5] Rodríguez went to Europe to race starting in 1959, sharing a Porsche 1600 S with Leo Levine at the Nurbürgring 1000 km, which came in second in class (thirteenth overall).

[5] At Cuba's 1960 Liberty Grand Prix, Rodríguez's 250TR followed Stirling Moss's winning Maserati Tipo 61 home, in second.

[5] After Ferrari refused to enter the 1962 Mexican Grand Prix, the first to be held in Mexico, Rodríguez and his younger brother both found rides of their own.

[7] He failed to qualify at Indianapolis, in an Aston Martin-powered Cooper T54, but took part in his first Grand Prix in the works Lotus at Watkins Glen and Magdalena Mixhuca.

[8] Also in 1963, driving for Kjell Qvale Racing, he won his second USRRC ( FIA Group 7 cars) event in the Huffaker chassis#2 Mk8 GENIE/Chevrolet, then went on to win again in their chassis#3 Mk8 GENIE/Ford For 1964, he again won the Daytona Continental, as well as the sports car Canadian Grand Prix, was second at the Paris 1000 km, and third in the Bahamas Tourist Trophy.

[8] He won the Reims 12-Hours in a Ferrari 365 P2 he shared with Jean Guichet, and scored a third at the Canadian Sports Car Grand Prix.

[citation needed] Nevertheless, Rodríguez led the Spanish Grand Prix from Chris Amon for 28 laps until he made a mistake and spun off.

The Reg Parnell Racing BRMs proved to have hopeless engines, and after Monaco,[17] Rodríguez left and signed for Ferrari for the remainder of the 1969 Grand Prix and sports car series.

The uncompetitive 312s ran midfield until Rodríguez's car broke and Amon's engine blew for the second race in a row.

All in all, Rodríguez managed a fourth place in 1968;[19] sixth in 1964,[20] 1967[21] and 1970;[22] and seventh in 1965[23] and 1969;[22] while retiring in 1963 and 1966; in his eight home races in Mexico, but Ferrari didn't offer him a ride for 1970.

For most of 1970, Stanley clearly favoured Jackie Oliver as number one driver, perhaps partly in response to Stewart's opinion of Rodríguez and possibly because of his "old-boys' club" of Englishmen at the team.

Only the need to pit in the last laps for fuel robbed him of a victory at Watkins Glen, the highest paying event of the year at the time (US$50,000).

His last NASCAR race was Miller High Life 500, where he retired early with electrical issues[30] Rodríguez drove a Ferrari 312 P Coupé in the CanAm round of Bridgehampton in 1969, finishing 5th.

A contemporary source reported that trackside photographers noticed his right front tyre coming away from the rim under heavy braking for the sharp s-bend as early as the 10th lap.

[35][36] Along with Jo Siffert, he was considered the bravest driver in motorsport, an example of this being the two touching through the then-very narrow and very dangerous Eau Rouge corner in the rain in their 917s at the start of the 1970 1000km of Spa-Francorchamps.

In July 2006, a bronze plaque was placed at the site of his crash in Nuremberg, a joint effort by Scuderia Rodríguez (the friends foundation) and the city authorities.

[40][41] Its Secretary General, Carlos Jalife, published the Rodríguez brothers' biography in December 2006, with an English translation[42][43] which won the Motor Press Guild Book of the Year award in 2009.

[44] Sergio Pérez wore a specially-designed crash helmet tributing Pedro Rodríguez for the 2022 Monaco Grand Prix in which he went on to claim his third win in Formula One.

[45] In 2024, the Mexican driver Adrián Fernández acquired the BRM P153 with which Rodríguez won the 1970 Belgian Grand Prix from a private collector.