Nelson Piquet

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Piquet had a brief career in tennis before losing interest in the sport and subsequently took up karting and hid his identity to prevent his father discovering his hobby. He became the Brazilian national karting champion in 1971–72 and won the Formula Vee Brazil championship in 1976. With advice from Emerson Fittipaldi, Piquet went to Europe to further success by taking the record number of wins in Formula Three in 1978, beating Jackie Stewart's all-time record. In the same year, Piquet made his Formula One debut with the Ensign team and drove for McLaren and Brabham. In 1979, he moved to the Brabham team and finished the runner-up in 1980 before winning the championship in 1981. Piquet in 1982 was hampered by severe engine unreliability, but he saw a resurgence for 1983 and his second world championship. For 1984–85, Piquet had once again lost chances to win the championship but managed to score three wins during that period. He moved to the Williams team in 1986 and was a title contender until the final round in Australia. Piquet took his third and final championship in 1987 during a heated battle with teammate Nigel Mansell which left the pair's relationship sour. Piquet subsequently moved to Lotus for 1988–89 where he experienced his third drop in form. He eventually went to the Benetton team for 1990–91 where he managed to win three races before retiring. After retiring from Formula One, Piquet tried his hand at the Indianapolis 500 for two years. He also had a go at sports car racing at various points during and after his Formula One career. Piquet is currently retired and runs several businesses in Brazil. Piquet has faced several controversies since the 1980s—predominantly for his use of homophobic language—and was banned from the Formula One paddock in 2022. The ban was lifted in 2024.

In Their Own Story

The 1979 season was a crucible for Piquet at Brabham. Racing alongside Niki Lauda, he retired from eleven of fifteen races due to accidents and engine unreliability. A massive crash at the Italian Grand Prix saw the entire rear section of his BT48 ripped off at Monza's Curva Grande corner, yet Piquet walked away uninjured. Tensions peaked when Lauda abruptly quit before the Canadian Grand Prix, leaving Piquet as the team's number one driver alongside new recruit Ricardo Zunino to debut the Ford-Cosworth DFV-powered BT49. In the season finale at Watkins Glen, Piquet started from the front row and set the fastest lap, signaling the car's potential despite a difficult year.

Reader's Guide

Piquet was born 17 August 1952, in Rio de Janeiro, then the capital of Brazil, the son of Estácio Gonçalves Souto Maior (1913–1974), a Brazilian physician, and his housewife Clotilde Piquet (1920–2007), of French descent. His father moved his family to the new capital, Brasília, in 1960 and became Minister for Health in João Goulart's government (1961–1964). Piquet had two brothers, Alexis and Geraldo, and a sister Genusa. Piquet was the youngest of the children. His father wanted Piquet to be a professional tennis player and was given a scholarship at a school in the United States, in Atlanta. Piquet started playing tennis at the age of 11. He won tournaments in Brazil and eventually took a trip to California to test his skill against tougher American players. During his time, he had learned to speak English and greatly matured. His short tennis career saw Piquet to be prized as a good player but not thought sufficiently exciting for the sport, which led him to devote his career to motor racing. 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 Piquet (of French origin) misspelt as Piket to hide his identity. Piquet dropped out of a university two years into an engineering course in 1974. He was subsequently employed in a garage to finance his career, since he had no financial support from his family. Upon returning to Brazil, Piquet and three friends bought a 20 hp cart and participated in Brazilian go-karting (1971 and 1972 national champion) and in the local Formula Super Vee 1976 championship, in which he easily won that season. On the advice of Emerson Fittipaldi, the first Brazilian Formula One world champion who sold the chassis for the Brazilian Formula Vee champion car with his brother, he arrived in European motor sports hailed as a prodigy. In the 1978 British Formula 3 season he broke Jackie Stewart's record of the most wins in a season. Piquet made his Formula One debut for Ensign in Germany, starting 21st only to retire on lap 31 with a broken engine. After the race, Piquet drove a McLaren of BS Fabrications in the next three races, where he left good impressions. The deal was negotiated when BS Fabrications employees met Piquet when he was driving at Brands Hatch. His best finish was ninth in Italy. For the last race in 1978, Piquet moved to the Brabham t

Did You Know?

• Piquet used his mother's maiden name Piquet misspelt as Piket to hide his karting from his father.
• He broke Jackie Stewart's record of the most wins in a season in the 1978 British Formula 3 championship.
• Piquet's first Formula One points came with a fourth place at the 1979 Dutch Grand Prix.
• He won his first World Championship in 1981 driving for Brabham.