Pedro António Matos Chaves, born on 27 February 1965, reached Formula One as a British Formula 3000 champion, but his Grand Prix opportunity came with a team struggling simply to reach qualifying. His later results in America, rallying and GT racing gave a broader picture of his ability.
Driver Bio
| Nationality | Portuguese |
| Birthplace | Bonfim, Portugal |
| Born | 27 February 1965 |
| First Grand Prix | 1991 United States Grand Prix |
| Last Grand Prix | 1991 Spanish Grand Prix |
| Years Active | 1991 |
| Current/Last Team | Coloni |
After winning the Portuguese Formula Ford championship in 1986, Chaves moved into British competition in 1987. The 1990 British F3000 title with Madgwick Racing was his major single-seater breakthrough, accompanied by occasional appearances in the international series.
For 1991 he joined Coloni in F1. Thirteen attempts ended in failure to pre-qualify, and he left after the Portuguese Grand Prix without starting a race. Funding problems formed part of the difficult relationship. A potential 1992 deal involving the former Leyton House operation, now March, came together too late to secure the seat taken by Karl Wendlinger.
Chaves instead returned to F3000 with GJ Racing and Il Barone Rampante, without notable results. A move to Indy Lights from 1993 to 1995 proved more rewarding. Racing for Brian Stewart, he won at Vancouver in 1995; alongside Robbie Buhl, he was one of the few drivers to interrupt Greg Moore’s domination that season.
Touring cars followed in 1996, with second place in the Spanish championship in a BMW, then Porsche appearances in FIA GT. From 1998, rallying became a major focus. With co-driver Sérgio Paiva, Chaves won the Portuguese championship in 1999 and 2000 using a Toyota Corolla WRC.
He added the Spanish GT title in 2001 with Miguel Ramos in a Saleen S7-R, and also raced at Le Mans and in FIA GT with Graham Nash Motorsport. Renault Clio S1600 rally outings in 2005 and 2006 extended the variety of his competition programme.
Chaves later applied his experience behind the scenes, coaching A1 Team Lebanon in 2006 and managing A1 Team Portugal in 2008. His son David also pursued racing. The thirteen unsuccessful F1 pre-qualifying attempts remain a stark statistic, but they occupy only one difficult season in a career that produced titles on both circuits and rally stages.
Grand Prix Stats
| Race Entries | 14 |
| Race Starts | 0 |
| Did Not Start | 0 |
| Best Race Start | – |
| Best Race Finish | – |
| Retirements | 0 |
| First-Lap Retirements | 0 |
| Not Classified | 0 |
| Disqualified | 0 |
| Did Not Qualify | 14 |
Qualifying
| Qualifying Sessions | 14 |
| Reached Q3 | 0 |
| Q2 Eliminations | 0 |
| Q1 Eliminations | 0 |
| Did Not Qualify | 14 |
