Pedro Diniz on fear, his fiery escape, and F1 pressure
Fear is something F1 drivers don’t often admit to feeling. Pedro Diniz does. In his 98 Grands Prix during the 1990s and into 2000, the Brazilian experienced the highs of hard earned top-six points finishes and, on his day, was a match for teammates Jean Alesi and Damon Hill. But, as he tells Tom Clarkson in a rare interview, lucky escapes from a fireball in Argentina and an upside-down car in Germany left a deep impression. ‘The biggest challenge was really the challenge of my mind’, Pedro says. How do fear and the immense pressure of racing in Formula 1 affect a driver's performance? How can meditation and yoga help a racer go faster? Pedro tells all. He also remembers first encounters with Kimi Raikkonen and Rubens Barrichello at the very start of their racing careers, and explains his post-racing passion for producing organic food. Sebastian Vettel is among the people who are very interested in what Pedro’s doing today on his farm in Brazil.