Nelson Piquet

Name: Nelson Piquet

Nationality: Brazil

Date of birth: August 17, 1952 - Rio de Janeiro

This clever Brazilian racer worked out early in his career that it was as effective to win World Championships by stealth and consistency as through out and out speed. Not that Piquet lacked the pace to get the job done, even though he might well have scaled the heights of international tennis rather than motor racing if his father's ambitions prevailed. He emerged as a man to watch after dominating the 1978 British F3 Championship on the strength of which he was offered a drive alongside Lauda in Bernie Ecclestone's Brabham team for '79. Nelson really developed his own personal niche at Brabham. He felt comfortable with the team, was on friendly terms with the mechanics and at ease with designer Gordon Murray.

He won the 1981 and 1983 World Championships, but was not going to be taken for granted when Ecclestone offered what he thought was too modest a retainer for 1985. Instead, he switched to Williams, won the 1987 World Championship and then had a barren couple of seasons with Team Lotus before switching to Benetton in 1990-91. This partnership yielded three more Grand Prix wins before the impish Brazilian's F1 career finally petered out. He headed off to the United States but a huge accident in practice for the Indianapolis 500 did serious damage to his legs and Nelson retired to Brazil where he runs a string of successful businesses and is involved in the organization of motor racing events.

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