Mário Manuel Veloso de Araújo Cabral (; 15 January 1934 – 17 August 2020), commonly known by the nickname "Nicha" Cabral (), was a racing driver from Portugal. He participated in five Formula One World Championship Grands Prix (four starts), debuting on 23 August 1959. He did not score any championship points. In 2009, at the age of 75, Cabral came out as bisexual.
Racing career Son of the second marriage of the 1st Count of Vizela, Cabral was regarded as Portugal's outstanding driver of the late 1950s and competed in the Portuguese Grand Prix in 1959 and 1960 finishing in tenth place and retiring respectively.
In the 1959 Grand Prix at the Circuito de Monsanto, Jack Brabham claimed Cabral was responsible for causing the accident which left future triple world champion lucky to escape with his life. According to Brabham, Cabral collided with the Australian while he was being lapped, causing Brabham to spin and then somersault into a telegraph post. Brabham was thrown out of the car, which landed in the middle of the circuit, but was avoided by the other drivers. Cabral, in his biography "Nicha - Mário de Araújo Cabral", made it very clear that he kept his racing line and it was Brabham that tried to overtake at a dangerous place. Cabral's car was not damaged and finished the race in tenth place, four laps down. He was the first Portuguese driver to start a Formula One race.
Cabral did not pursue a full-time racing career but drove for Scuderia Centro Sud in the 1961 Pau Grand Prix. His career was then interrupted by National Service which he spent as a paratrooper in Angola. He returned to Formula One with Centro Sud in 1963 retiring from the German Grand Prix and failing to qualify at Monza. His Formula One career ended with a retirement from the 1964 Italian Grand Prix in the Derrington-Francis-ATS.
Cabral was seriously injured in the 1965 Formula Two Rouen-Les-Essarts Grand Prix and was absent from competition until 1968 when he returned to race sportscars and occasionally in Formula Two before retiring in 1975.
Racing record Complete Formula One World Championship results (key) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 WDC Points 1959 Scuderia Centro Sud Cooper T51 MaseratiStraight-4 MON 500 NED FRA GBR GER POR ITA USA NC 0 1960 Scuderia Centro Sud Cooper T51 MaseratiStraight-4 ARG MON 500 NED BEL FRA GBR POR ITA USA NC 0 1963 Scuderia Centro Sud Cooper T60 Climax V8 MON BEL NED FRA GBR GER ITA USA MEX RSA NC 0 1964 Derrington-Francis Racing Team Derrington-Francis ATS V8 MON NED BEL FRA GBR GER AUT ITA USA MEX NC 0
References Footnotes
Sources Profile at www.grandprix.com