Nelson
Piquet

Nelson Piquet Souto Maior was born in Rio de Janeiro on 17 August 1952. He played tennis as a youngster before switching to karting, and he was Brazilian kart champion in 1971 and 1972. Following advice from Emerson Fittipaldi, he moved to Europe, and in 1978 he set a record for the most wins in a single British Formula 3 season, beating the mark held by Jackie Stewart.

He made his Formula One debut later in 1978, driving for Ensign at the German Grand Prix, then for McLaren in three races and for Brabham in the final round. He stayed with Brabham until 1985. His first full season came in 1979, and he scored his first points with fourth place in the Netherlands. In 1980 he took his first victory at Long Beach, also won in the Netherlands and Italy, and finished runner-up to Alan Jones. He won his first title in 1981, clinching it with fifth place in the Las Vegas finale. In 1983 he became champion for the second time with the BMW turbo car, the first turbocharged car to win the title. After victories at Monza and Brands Hatch, third place in the South African finale was enough once Alain Prost had retired.

In 1984 he won in Canada and Detroit and finished fifth in the championship, and in 1985 he won the French Grand Prix. He joined Williams for 1986, with Nigel Mansell as his team-mate. The two took points off each other, Prost won the title and Piquet was third. In 1987 he claimed his third championship, even though Mansell won more races. At Lotus in 1988 and 1989 he did not win. He finished third three times in 1988 and fourth at Silverstone in 1989. At Benetton in 1990 he won the last two races, in Japan and Australia, the latter being the 500th World Championship round, and finished third overall. His final victory came in Canada in 1991. In total he made 203 starts, with 23 wins, 60 podiums and 24 pole positions. He announced his retirement from Formula One in January 1992.

Afterwards he tried the Indianapolis 500. In 1992 he crashed in practice and could not start, and in 1993 he qualified 13th but retired after 38 laps with an engine problem. In sports cars he won the 1981 1000 km of the Nürburgring with Hans-Joachim Stuck and finished eighth at Le Mans in 1996. He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2000. His son, Nelson Piquet Jr., also became a racing driver.

Source: Wikipedia, “Nelson Piquet”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.