89 Facts About Nelson Piquet

Nelson Piquet Souto Maior is a Brazilian retired racing driver and businessman.

In 1979, Nelson Piquet moved to the Brabham team and finished the runner-up in 1980 before winning the championship in 1981.

Nelson Piquet moved to the Williams team in 1986 and was a title contender until the final round in Australia.

Nelson Piquet took his third and final championship in 1987 during a heated battle with teammate Nigel Mansell which left the pair's relationship sour.

Nelson Piquet had a go at sports car racing at various points during and after his Formula One career.

Nelson Piquet is currently retired and runs several businesses in Brazil.

Nelson Piquet was born 17 August 1952, in Rio de Janeiro, then the capital of Brazil, the son of Estacio Goncalves Souto Maior, a Brazilian physician.

Nelson Piquet's father moved his family to the new capital, Brasilia, in 1960 and became Minister for Health in Joao Goulart's government.

Nelson Piquet had two brothers, Alexis, and Geraldo, and a sister Genusa.

Nelson Piquet's father wanted Piquet to be a professional tennis player and was given a scholarship at a school in the United States, in Atlanta.

Nelson Piquet won tournaments in Brazil and eventually took a trip to California to test his skill against tougher American players.

Nelson Piquet started kart racing at the age of 14, but because his father did not approve of his racing career, he used his mother's maiden name Nelson Piquet misspelt as Piket to hide his identity.

Nelson Piquet dropped out of a University two years into an engineering course in 1974.

Nelson Piquet was employed in a garage to finance his career, since he had no financial support from his family.

Nelson Piquet made his Formula One debut for Ensign in Germany, starting 21st only to retire on lap 31 with a broken engine.

In 1979, Nelson Piquet competed in his first full season in Formula One.

Nelson Piquet drove for the Brabham team, alongside double world champion, Niki Lauda.

Nelson Piquet retired from eleven of the fifteen races in the season.

Nelson Piquet started off his season being involved in a first-lap pile up and getting injured at the Argentine Grand Prix in Buenos Aires and crashing into Clay Regazzoni's Williams car at the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos.

Nelson Piquet had a huge accident at the Italian Grand Prix; the rear section of his BT48 was completely ripped off at Monza's Curva Grande corner after another incident with Regazzoni; Piquet walked away uninjured.

In 1980, Nelson Piquet finished a hard-fought 2nd in Argentina behind Alan Jones; the race was held in very hot conditions on a disintegrating track.

Nelson Piquet took his first win at the United States Grand Prix West in Long Beach, California by over 50 seconds from Riccardo Patrese.

Nelson Piquet finished second in the drivers' standings, 13 points behind title winner Alan Jones.

The superiority of the car was such that Nelson Piquet easily swept to victory and even his less experienced Mexican teammate Hector Rebaque, who could usually be found well down the order, managed to retain second place until he was forced to retire.

Nelson Piquet won the race despite being caught out by rain.

At the restart 45 minutes later, Alain Prost appeared much more competitive after putting on slicks on a drying track mechanical work performed during the break and won his first Grand Prix with Nelson Piquet relegated to third place, behind Prost and McLaren's John Watson.

Nelson Piquet won the championship with a great comeback that began when he won the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim while Reutemann was enduring internal conflict with his teammate Alan Jones.

At the Caesars Palace Grand Prix in Las Vegas, Nelson Piquet finished fifth to clinch the championship as Reutemann finished out of the points.

Nelson Piquet was so dehydrated from the desert heat and exhausted from the anti-clockwise nature of the track that he vomited on himself during the race and had to be lifted out of his car when he returned to the pits.

Nelson Piquet was later disqualified for his car being underweight from a protest from Renault and Ferrari.

Nelson Piquet did not drive the BMW-engined BT50 until Belgium, and the low point of the season was Detroit where he failed to qualify due to an engine failure in qualifying.

The ruling of Nelson Piquet's disqualification led to a political attack on the lowering of the minimum weight against Ferrari and Renault who used turbo engines.

In Germany, Nelson Piquet arrived to help Didier Pironi after he suffered a career-ending high-speed crash during practice.

Nelson Piquet won the opening race in Brazil in the arrow-shaped BT52 and followed this up with a retirement in the United States West Grand Prix.

Nelson Piquet scored a second place in France and took another second at Monaco taking the fastest lap.

Nelson Piquet was 14 points behind Alain Prost with three races left in the season but took back-to-back victories at Monza and Brands Hatch to close to within two points.

At the season-ending South African Grand Prix, Prost retired on lap 35 and Nelson Piquet cruised to a third-place finish, winning his second world title.

Nelson Piquet won the race, but the additional radiator heated to the point that Nelson Piquet suffered burns on his right foot when pushing the accelerator pedal down; The heat had actually burnt a hole through his boots and he went to the podium barefoot after receiving first aid.

Nelson Piquet managed take a back-to-back win at Detroit after driving his backup car due to an accident that occurred at the start of the race.

In Spielberg he could have won as the car of leading Niki Lauda suffered a loss of gears, but Nelson Piquet was unaware and did not attack.

Nelson Piquet felt as if his loyalty to Brabham was being taken advantage of - his salary was lower than other drivers despite his success with the team - and he was not being informed of some team decisions.

Nelson Piquet was concerned about financial security when he retired, citing the difficulties faced by Brazilian footballers Pele and Garrincha after their professional careers ended.

When Nelson Piquet had signed for Williams at 1985 Austrian Grand Prix, Nelson Piquet did not regard Mansell as a serious threat, as the Briton had not won a race yet in his fifth year in Formula One.

Nelson Piquet had underestimated Mansell, and the Englishman came out of 1985 on a confidence high after winning 2 of the last 3 races in 1985.

Nelson Piquet had wanted to play the role as the number one driver.

Nelson Piquet left Adelaide following the Australian Grand Prix, fuming that Williams had not honoured their contract and had allowed Mansell to win races instead of ordering him to let the Brazilian by.

Nelson Piquet made amends in 1987, using political maneuvering and technical skill to gain the upper hand.

Nelson Piquet was a very good testing and development driver, and was able to develop the Williams car further to make it even more competitive.

Nelson Piquet had admitted to "not ever being quite right" after his qualifying crash for Round 2 at Imola.

Nelson Piquet was offered by RAI to join Mario Poltronieri and Clay Regazzoni to comment on the race.

Nelson Piquet, who had maintained friendly relations within the commentary box, sent Ezio Zermiani.

Nelson Piquet accepted improvising as a commentator, but beyond the short journalistic experience, Nelson Piquet complained at year-end about the fact that the incident had left strong psychological effects in its aftermath which had caused insomnia.

Nelson Piquet announced during practice for the 1987 Hungarian Grand Prix that he had signed with Lotus as the undisputed number 1 driver, a position he claimed was promised at Williams from 1986, but was never honored following Frank Williams' car crash.

The Japanese company, who paid most of Nelson Piquet's salary, considered him to be the number 1 and were privately fuming that Williams management did not rein in Mansell and allow Nelson Piquet an easier time.

Nelson Piquet and the number 1 went to a stagnating Lotus team in 1988, and his career took a nose dive despite the Camel sponsored Lotus 100T having the same specification Honda V6 turbo that powered the almost totally dominant McLarens of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost - the 100T was a very poor chassis that was riddled with aerodynamic issues, was constantly flexing and was not properly compatible with the engine.

Nelson Piquet earned the ire of the Tifosi at the San Marino Grand Prix when he said in an interview with Playboy that Scuderia Ferrari might do better as a team if the boss was a younger man instead of the 90-year-old one who rarely attended races due to his age and failing health.

Nelson Piquet had a disappointing 1989 season, driving a Judd V8-powered Lotus which had 125 less hp than the Honda V10s used by McLaren.

Nelson Piquet did have an excellent 4th place in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone where he overtook theoretically faster cars and was running third until Nannini overtook him in the last few laps.

Nelson Piquet had no wins and they both even failed to qualify for the 1989 Belgian Grand Prix, Piquet's first non-qualification since the 1982 Detroit Grand Prix.

On what was his last attempt to qualify at Spa, Nelson Piquet lost his chance when he was slowed by rookie Frenchman Olivier Grouillard, who had gained a reputation throughout the season as a blocker.

The second was just two weeks later at the last race of the season in Australia when after a great drive, Nelson Piquet survived a spirited, but fair, challenge from the V12 Ferrari of Mansell to win what was the 500th World Championship Formula One Grand Prix.

Nelson Piquet had talked to the Ligier and Ferrari teams about securing a drive, but Piquet then announced his retirement from Formula One in January 1992 to concentrate on his business activities.

Nelson Piquet attempted to race in the Indy car series and was hired by Team Menard to drive in the 1992 Indianapolis 500.

Nelson Piquet had taken to the track well, and appeared comfortable driving at high speeds despite never before racing on an oval.

When driving through turn 4, Nelson Piquet abruptly took his foot off the pedal to enter the pit lane, which resulted in the car spinning and hitting the wall.

Nelson Piquet suffered serious foot and ankle injuries and was forced to sit out the race.

Nelson Piquet returned after rehabilitation in 1993 and managed to qualify.

Nelson Piquet started in 13th position, but finished in 32nd, dropping out with engine problems after only 38 laps.

Alongside Formula One, Nelson Piquet took part in the 1000km Nurburgring in 1980 and 1981 driving a BMW M1.

Nelson Piquet won the 1981 race alongside the German Hans-Joachim Stuck.

In 1996, Nelson Piquet competed in the Le Mans 24 Hours driving a McLaren F1 GTR alongside Johnny Cecotto and Danny Sullivan, finishing eighth overall.

On 20 January 2006, Nelson Piquet won the 50th edition of the Mil Milhas Brasileiras at the Interlagos circuit.

Nelson Piquet drove an Aston Martin DBR9 alongside his son, Nelsinho, and drivers Christophe Bouchut and Helio Castroneves.

Nelson Piquet's helmet is white and red with a thick line resembling the seam on a tennis ball, and teardrop shapes filling in the round areas on the sides and top.

Nelson Piquet remains a competitive driver in sports car racing, albeit more for fun than with serious intent.

Nelson Piquet's first marriage lasted one year, during which a son was born in 1977.

Nelson Piquet's second produced three children, including Nelson Angelo Piquet and Kelly Piquet.

Nelson Piquet has two children with his current wife, including Pedro Estacio Piquet.

On 31 July 2007, Nelson Piquet, after repeated speeding and parking offenses, was stripped of his civilian driving licence and ordered by the Brazilian courts to attend a week of lessons in order to "learn good and safe driving conduct", and to then pass an exam.

Nelson Piquet was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2000 and two racing circuits in Rio de Janeiro and in Brasilia have been named "Autodromo Internacional Nelson Piquet", though the Rio circuit has since been demolished to make way for venues to be used in the 2016 Summer Olympics, with Rio de Janeiro the host city.

Nelson Piquet was ranked 13th by Autosport in 2009, and 16th by BBC Sport in 2012.

Nelson Piquet went on to say that he should have won the championship in 1986 and Mansell should have won in 1987, and that after 1987 he drove for the money as due to his condition he was no longer able to lead races from the front.

On 11 November 2013, Nelson Piquet underwent heart surgery from which he made a complete recovery.

In 1988, Nelson Piquet made comments in a magazine about his rival Nigel Mansell, calling him an "uneducated blockhead" and calling his wife "ugly".

Nelson Piquet called Ayrton Senna "gay" and Enzo Ferrari "senile", saying that if Enzo Ferrari was 30 years younger, Ferrari would be a better team than it was.

Nelson Piquet continued to publicly refer to Senna as gay as late as 2020.

In 2021, during an interview on a Brazilian podcast, Nelson Piquet used the racially pejorative Portuguese term "neguinho" when discussing an incident between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen at the 2021 British Grand Prix.

Nelson Piquet later apologised for his remarks, explaining that they were not intended to be racist.

Nelson Piquet insinuated the reason Lewis Hamilton lost the 2016 Formula One World Championship to Rosberg's son, Nico Rosberg, was because Hamilton "must have been giving lot of ass at the time, he was that bad".