Feature
Growing up in the capital Brasília: Pedro Clerot’s Hometown tour
Rodin Motorsport driver Pedro Clerot is gearing up for the in-season test in Spielberg along with Round 2 in Monte Carlo next month.
Before he gets back behind the wheel though, we caught up with the Brazilian driver to talk about his hometown and got the lowdown on all the must-visit spots and advice for first-time visitors.
GROWING UP IN BRAZIL
“I was born and raised in Brasília, Brazil, that's the capital. It's kind of in the central part of Brazil.
“I grew up there my whole life and then when I was 15 I moved to Europe. But I grew up there my whole life, racing in Brazil. So not only there, but also in other states like Sao Paulo, I went to the south of Brazil, sometimes to the north.
“I was always travelling to race, but I grew up with my parents, and my family there. We were very close, we did basically everything together in terms of sports. My parents would always come for races, they would always be there to support and everything.
“Growing up in Brasília was quite nice because I had a couple of people there that were already racing. We have Felipe Nasr from Brasília, we have Nelson Piquet from Brasilia, we have many other drivers also from Brasília. There’s a racing background that's quite big, so I was always karting, sometimes with them.
“I would always see them around, we would always chat, we would always be together, so it was quite good. It was a good childhood to be fair, racing a lot in karting and travelling a lot as well. That's basically it."
TAKING TIME TO VISIT
“Once or twice a year maximum. For New Years I'm always in Brasília. We normally go to Praia, which is a place that has a beach, we have a house there, that's where we go kite surfing and everything.
“That's how I normally spend my New Years, with my family, friends. But I also go to Brasília once or twice a year for a week or two, spend some time with friends and family. I also have some commitments for sponsors there. BRB is also from there, so it's also work nowadays.
“When I was younger, to be fair, I didn't really go out because I started professional karting, let's say in 2018 I was 12, in 2019 I was 13. Then we had Covid, so we were stuck home for a year, so that's usually the age you start going out with your friends. I skipped that, because I was always at home, travelling for racing or whatever.
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“In 2021 I was also travelling a lot. In 2022 I did Brazilian F4, and I also didn't really go out because of racing, and then I moved to Europe.”
“So I didn't really grow up going out a lot there. We would always go for dinners, sometimes movies. We have quite a big artificial lake in Brasília. I would always spend time with my family there, doing wake surfing.
“That was always something that we did as a family. But it was just easy going to my friends houses. Like I said, I didn't grow up with many friends because of racing.
“I was sometimes racing week in, week out. When I was not racing, I had school commitments, so I would see them there. But I was just more focused on racing and having a different childhood, let's say.
“I was also spending a lot of time with my family. Once I was home, I wanted to spend time with them instead of friends."
ADVICE FOR TOURISTS
“They have to go eat at Chicago, that's the place that you have to go to. Literally, every time I'm in Brasilia, I go have lunch there every day, and I meet like 30 of my friends. That's a really good meat place. There is sushi, it's very good sushi. You have to go on the lake just to see and also do a little tour to see the Brasilia monuments.
“There's a few monuments there. Brasilia is quite a young city. But everything is planned well, it’s a political hub, there's a lot of monuments there. It's quite nice.
“Also close to Brasilia, something called Chapada dos Verdeiros. We have lots of trails with waterfalls. It's a super nice place. It's like one and a half hours out. That's actually a worthwhile visit.”