Nelson Angelo Piquet
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| Nelson Angelo Piquet | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | |
| Car # | 6 |
| Current team | Renault |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Races | 0 (0 starts) |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podium finishes | 0 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Career points | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| First race | |
| Latest race | |
| 2008 position | |
Nelson Angelo Piquet (born July 25, 1985, Heidelberg, Germany), also known as Nelson Piquet Junior or Nelsinho Piquet, is a Brazilian race car driver. He is the son of three-time Formula One world champion Nelson Piquet, one of Brazil's most successful F1 drivers. In the 2005 and 2006 seasons he raced in the GP2 Series, taking a win in Belgium in 2005 and claiming 2nd place in the series in 2006. He was signed as test driver for Renault Formula One team for the 2007 season, and has been promoted to the race team for 2008. Piquet currently resides in Oxford, England.
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His parents separated soon after he was born and he lived in Monaco with his Dutch mother Sylvia Tamsma until he was eight years old when he moved to live in Brazil with his father. "They kind of swapped me. My mother wanted me to get to know my father, she wanted me to know Brazil and the language, and she realised life in Brazil would be better for a child." [1] He has two sisters, Kelly and Julia, and four brothers, Geraldo, Laszlo, Pedro and Marco.
Piquet's racing career started in 1993 in Brazilian karting, where he would stay until 2001 when he moved to Formula Three Sudamericana. His father's wealth enabled him to race for his own team, a practice he continued until he left GP2 Series. He raced in part of the 2001 season there, staying for 2002 and becoming the champion with four races to go. In 2002 he also raced one race of Brazilian Formula Renault.
In 2003, Piquet moved to the UK where he joined the British Formula 3 Championship and formed the Piquet Sports team. He went on to win 3rd place with six wins, five podiums and eight pole positions.
In 2004, Piquet won the British Formula 3 Championship. He became the youngest driver to have ever won the championship at 19 years and 2 months. He also went to test for BMW Williams now Williams F1.
In 2005, Piquet took part in the A1 Grand Prix for A1 Team Brazil. In the first event in the series, he took first place in both Sprint and Main race events, as well as scoring a point for the fastest lap. He also became a driver for HiTech/Piquet Sports in the GP2 Series. He also was also testing for BAR-Honda.
In 2006, Piquet gained second place in the championship to British driver Lewis Hamilton in his second year of GP2.
During the 2007 season he was a test driver for the Renault Formula One team.[2]
He has been promoted to the race team for the 2008 season, which will see him driving alongside Fernando Alonso who returns to the Renault Formula One team. It is reported that he gained preference for the seat over Heikki Kovalainen as Kovalainen was seen as a potential rival to Alonso and such a challenge to Alonso could damage the team.[3]
| Season | Competition | Team Name | No. | Races | Poles | Wins | Points | Final Placing |
| 2003 | British Formula 3 | Piquet Sports | - | 12 | 8 | 6 | 231 | 3rd |
| 2004 | British Formula 3 | Piquet Sports | - | 24 | 5 | 6 | 282 | 1st |
| 2005 | GP2 Series | HiTech/Piquet Sports | 03 | 23 | 0 | 1 | 46 | 8th |
| 2006 | GP2 Series | Piquet Sports | 11 | 20 | 5 | 4 | 102 | 2nd |
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Juliano Moro |
Formula Three Sudamericana Champion 2002 |
Succeeded by Danilo Dirani |
| Preceded by Alan van der Merwe |
British Formula Three Champion 2004 |
Succeeded by Álvaro Parente |
| Constructors and drivers competing in the 2008 Formula One championship | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ferrari | BMW | Renault | Williams | Red Bull | Toyota | Toro Rosso | Honda | Super Aguri | Force India | McLaren |
| 1 Räikkönen 2 Massa |
Heidfeld Kubica |
Alonso Piquet |
Rosberg Nakajima |
Coulthard Webber |
Trulli Glock |
Vettel Bourdais |
Button Barrichello |
TBA TBA |
Sutil TBA |
Hamilton Kovalainen |
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Personnel: |
Categories: 1985 births | Living people | Dutch-Brazilians | French-Brazilians | Brazilian racecar drivers | A1 Grand Prix drivers | GP2 Series drivers | South American Formula Three Championship drivers | British Formula Three Championship drivers | Latin American and Iberian Britons | Renault Formula One drivers