Nelson Piquet Jr.

Nelson Piquet Jr.
Born	Nelson Ângelo Tamsma Piquet Souto Maior (1985-07-25) July 25, 1985 Heidelberg, West Germany
Occupation	Racing driver
Years active	1993–present
Known for	Formula One driver, 2014–15 Formula E champion, Brazilian Stock Car Pro Series competitor

Nelson Ângelo Tamsma Piquet Souto Maior (born July 25, 1985), widely recognized as Nelson Piquet Junior or Nelsinho Piquet, is a Brazilian professional stock car racer and a former competitor in both Formula One and Formula E, where he secured the championship title in the 2014–15 season. Presently, he competes full-time in the Brazilian Stock Car Pro Series, piloting the No. 33 Toyota Corolla E210 for Motul TMG Racing.

Additionally, he participates in the LMP2 Pro/Am category of the 2024 European Le Mans Series with Team Virage, behind the wheel of an ORECA 07.

As the son of Nelson Piquet, a three-time Formula One world champion, he initially joined Renault as a test driver in 2007. He was elevated to a race seat in 2008 but was released midway through the 2009 season. Following his departure from Formula One, it emerged that under instructions from his team, he intentionally caused a crash during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix to benefit teammate Fernando Alonso’s win—a controversy that severely affected his F1 trajectory.

Beyond Formula One, Piquet finished as runner-up in the 2006 GP2 Series, ranked fourth in the 2014 Global RallyCross Championship, and achieved seventh place in the 2012 NASCAR Truck Series.

Personal life

Born in Heidelberg, West Germany, Piquet Jr. is the son of Nelson Piquet, a three-time Formula One world champion and one of Brazil’s most accomplished F1 drivers. Shortly after his birth, his parents separated, leading him to reside with his Dutch mother, Sylvia Tamsma, in Monaco until he was eight years old. Afterwards, he relocated to Brazil to live with his father. He has two sisters—Kelly and Julia—and four half-brothers: Geraldo, Laszlo, Pedro, and Marco. His education included attending the American School of Brasília until age sixteen before dedicating himself fully to racing.

Before Formula One

Piquet’s racing career began in Brazilian karting in 1993 and advanced to Formula Three Sudamericana by 2001. Utilizing his father’s financial support, he competed under his own team banner until departing from the GP2 Series. He took part intermittently in GP2 during 2001 and clinched the championship title in 2002 with four events remaining. That same year featured a single appearance in Brazilian Formula Renault.

In 2003, Piquet relocated to the United Kingdom to compete in the British Formula 3 Championship, where he also founded the Piquet Sports team. He secured third place overall with six victories, five podium finishes, and eight pole positions; this success earned him a testing opportunity with the Williams team. The following year, at just 19 years and two months old, he became the youngest ever champion of British Formula 3 while continuing development tests for Williams.

During 2005, he represented A1 Team Brazil in A1 Grand Prix, winning both races at the season opener held at Brands Hatch, also collecting points for fastest laps. That year he drove for Hitech Piquet Sports in the GP2 Series, claiming victory at Spa-Francorchamps and conducting tests for the BAR-Honda Formula One outfit.

In his second GP2 season (2006), Piquet finished as runner-up behind Lewis Hamilton.

2007

During the 2007 season, Piquet acted as Renault’s official test and reserve driver in Formula One.

2008

In 2008, Nelson Piquet Jr. advanced to Renault's Formula One race team, partnering with two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso. Reports suggested that the team favored Piquet over Heikki Kovalainen to minimize internal competition with Alonso.

At the Australian Grand Prix, Piquet began from 21st on the grid, was involved in a collision on the opening lap, and retired on lap 31—paralleling his father's debut result. His subsequent performances were varied: he secured 11th place in Malaysia after starting 13th, retired in Bahrain due to gearbox issues following a 14th-place start, and achieved a personal best qualifying position of 10th in Spain where his race ended prematurely because of a crash. In Turkey, he qualified 17th and finished 15th.

Difficulties persisted with retirements in Monaco caused by wet weather and in Canada due to brake failure after spinning while pursuing Alonso. Renault publicly urged Piquet to enhance his performance during the season, citing concerns about his confidence.

Despite these hurdles, Piquet earned his first Formula One points by finishing seventh at the French Grand Prix, notably overtaking teammate Alonso late in the event. At Silverstone, he ran as high as fourth before aquaplaning off track. He claimed his inaugural podium finish at the German Grand Prix by coming second to Lewis Hamilton, benefiting from a one-stop strategy combined with a safety car period. He wrapped up the Japanese Grand Prix in fourth place.

2009

Renault chose to keep Nelson Piquet for the 2009 campaign on a one-year deal alongside Fernando Alonso, aiming to restore their competitiveness for the championship.

Piquet experienced difficulties early on, failing to progress beyond the first qualifying segment in the opening three races. His Australian Grand Prix ended prematurely on lap 24 due to brake failure. In Malaysia, he finished 13th, two places and seven seconds behind Alonso after the race was shortened by adverse weather conditions. China proved challenging; multiple spins and damage left him 16th and two laps down—team principal Flavio Briatore described it as a "very, very bad race." Piquet improved to tenth in Bahrain by gaining several positions and fending off Mark Webber late in the race. He then placed 12th in Spain.

During the German Grand Prix, Piquet out-qualified Alonso for the first time but remained pointless after Hungary. On August 3rd, Renault terminated his contract. Following this decision, Piquet criticized Briatore, calling him his "executioner," accusing him of favoritism towards Alonso and lacking genuine understanding of Formula One. Renault appointed test driver Romain Grosjean as Piquet’s replacement for the rest of the season.

After leaving Renault, Piquet was rumored to be a candidate for Ferrari’s seat following Felipe Massa’s injury and Luca Badoer’s underwhelming European Grand Prix performance. However, Ferrari ultimately signed Giancarlo Fisichella—the driver whom Piquet had replaced at Renault in 2008.

2009 FIA investigation: "Crashgate"

In August 2009, shortly after parting ways with Renault F1, allegations emerged that Piquet had intentionally crashed during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix to aid teammate Fernando Alonso, who went on to win the race. Initially describing it as an error, Piquet later confessed to the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) that the crash was orchestrated under instructions from Renault team principal Flavio Briatore and engineer Pat Symonds. In return for his cooperation, Piquet was granted immunity by the FIA. On September 4th, 2009, Renault officials faced charges of conspiracy and race manipulation before the FIA World Motor Sport Council hearing scheduled for September 21st.

Renault and Briatore initially threatened legal action against Piquet for allegedly making false claims but reversed their stance on September 16th by announcing they would not contest the charges; Briatore and Symonds subsequently left the team.

At the FIA hearing, Piquet expressed remorse and described his tenure at Renault as a nightmare dominated by Briatore’s control over his career. Renault countered with allegations that Piquet’s claims were fabricated, presenting an anonymous "Witness X" who suggested that Piquet himself had initiated the crash plan to secure contract renewal.

In December 2010, both Nelson and his father won a libel suit against Renault; the team issued an apology for defamation and paid damages. Renault acknowledged that Piquet’s accusations were truthful and that neither he nor his father had fabricated them to blackmail the organization.

In October 2009, Felipe Massa publicly implicated Alonso in involvement with the scandal. Following this accusation, Alonso declined an invitation from Massa to participate in a charity karting event.

Amidst this controversy, F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone expressed interest in seeing Piquet return to Formula One alongside Bruno Senna at Campos Meta. Although reports surfaced in December 2009 claiming that Piquet had signed with Campos, these were later revealed as an April Fools’ style hoax linked to Spain's Día de los Santos Innocentes festival. Piquet mentioned discussions with Force India, but after they retained their drivers, he shifted attention toward competing in NASCAR during 2010. Subsequent statements confirmed several conversations with Formula One teams regarding a possible comeback following resolution of the scandal.

NASCAR (2010–2014, 2016)

In October 2009, Piquet participated in a test session for Red Horse Racing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Rockingham Speedway, although he had no immediate plans to compete in NASCAR. By January 2010, he declared his intention to enter NASCAR, joining Red Horse Racing for the Camping World Truck Series and making his ARCA RE/MAX Series debut at Daytona International Speedway with Eddie Sharp Racing. In his first truck race, he achieved a sixth-place finish, marking the highest placement by a Brazilian driver in the series at that time. Subsequently, he competed in three races with Billy Ballew Motorsports and secured seventh place in his Nationwide Series debut at Watkins Glen.

In December 2010, Kevin Harvick, Inc. brought Piquet on board for a full season in the 2011 Truck Series, piloting the #8 Chevrolet. He concluded the year ranked tenth in the overall points standings and was among the finalists for Most Popular Driver while finishing as the runner-up for Rookie of the Year honors.

Following the closure of KHI, Piquet signed with Turner Motorsports in 2012 to drive the No. 30 Chevrolet full-time in the Camping World Truck Series and part-time in the Nationwide Series. That March, he captured his first NASCAR-sanctioned victory at Bristol Motor Speedway competing in the K&N Pro Series East. In June, he made history as the first Brazilian to win a NASCAR national touring event by triumphing at the Sargento 200 at Road America in the Nationwide Series. Later that season, Piquet added two more wins to his record in the Camping World Truck Series at Michigan and Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

During 2013, Piquet raced full-time in the Nationwide Series with Turner Scott Motorsports targeting Rookie of the Year while also participating selectively in Truck Series events, including the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway driving for NTS Motorsports. Toward the end of that year, NASCAR imposed a $10,000 fine and probation on him due to inappropriate comments made on social media.

Piquet debuted in the Sprint Cup Series in 2014 behind the wheel of Randy Humphrey Racing’s No. 77 Ford at Watkins Glen International. After stepping away from NASCAR’s national series for two years, he returned in 2016 for a part-time schedule in the Xfinity Series with Biagi-DenBeste Racing at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Rallycross

Following his release from Turner Scott Motorsports amid sponsorship challenges in 2013, Piquet joined SH Racing in April 2014 to compete in the 2014 Global RallyCross Championship, driving car No. 07, a Ford Fiesta ST. Over nine races, he secured four podium finishes and ended up fourth overall in the championship standings.

China Racing/NEXTEV (2014–2017)

In August 2014, Piquet underwent testing with China Racing at Donington Park, leading to a contract shortly afterward. Throughout the 2014–15 Formula E season, he achieved podium placements at both Punta del Este and Buenos Aires. He earned his maiden Formula E victory at the Long Beach event and followed it up with a second win during the Moscow race. His steady results culminated in winning the inaugural Formula E Championship by narrowly surpassing Sébastien Buemi by one point.

Jaguar (2017–2019)

In 2017, Piquet transitioned to Panasonic Jaguar Racing following two demanding years with NextEV.

Throughout the 2018-19 campaign, he was regularly outpaced by teammate Mitch Evans, managing to earn just a single point before departing the squad after the Sanya ePrix. Subsequently, Alex Lynn took over his seat for the rest of the season.

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	Points	Position
2001	Formula 3 Sudamericana	Piquet Sports	7	1	1	77	5th
2002	Formula 3 Sudamericana	Piquet Sports	17	13	16	296	1st
2003	British Formula 3 Championship	Piquet Sports	23	6	8	231	3rd
	Masters of Formula 3		1	0	1	N/A	2nd
	Macau Grand Prix	Hitech Racing	1	0	0	N/A	8th
	F3 Korea Super Prix		1	0	0	N/A	3rd
2004	British Formula 3 Championship	Piquet Sports	24	6	5	282	1st

Includes points accumulated by other Team Brazil drivers.

^‡ Not eligible for championship points
^* Season ongoing.

Complete Formula 3 Sudamericana results

(key) (Races in bold denote pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	DC	Points
2001	Piquet Sports	PAR	LON	BUE	MDA	BRA1	FOR	CAM	PIR	RCU	CAS	BRA2							5th	77

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Complete British Formula Three Championship results

(key) (Bold indicates pole position; italics denote fastest lap)

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Complete GP2 Series results

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Complete A1 Grand Prix results

(key) (Bold marks pole position; italics fastest lap)

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24 Hours of Le Mans results

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Complete Formula One results

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NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole by qualifying time. Italics – Pole via points standings. * – Most laps led.)

Sprint Cup Series

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Xfinity Series

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Camping World Truck Series

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¹ Not eligible for Camping World Truck championship points

K&N Pro Series East

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^† Not eligible for series points

ARCA Racing Series

(key) (Bold – Pole by qualifying time. Italics – Pole by points or practice. * – Most laps led.)

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Stock Car Pro Series

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^† Not eligible for championship points. ^* Season ongoing.

Complete Blancpain Sprint Series results

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Complete Formula E results

(key) (Bold indicates pole position; italics indicate fastest lap)

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^† Driver did not finish but was classified having completed over ninety percent of race distance.

Supercar

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Indy Lights

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Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

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Complete European Le Mans Series results

(key) (Races in bold show pole position; italics indicate fastest lap)

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Complete TCR World Tour results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

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