Nelson Piquet: Three Titles, Brabham, Williams and a Turbocharged Era

Nelson Piquet, a Brazilian driver and businessman, raced in Formula One between 1978 and 1991. He won three world championships, in 1981, 1983 and 1987, and took 23 Grands Prix across 14 seasons. He is one of the defining drivers of the turbocharged era that followed the ground effect cars.

His career moved from a childhood in Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia through karting and Europe's junior formulae, into three teams that shaped the 1980s: Brabham, Williams and Lotus, followed by a final period with Benetton. The sections below set out those years and the controversies that followed him after he retired.

How did Piquet get into motor racing?

Piquet was born on 17 August 1952 in Rio de Janeiro, the youngest of his parents' children. His father wanted him to become a professional tennis player, and he played tennis from the age of 11 and won tournaments in Brazil before he lost interest.

He began kart racing at 14, but his father disapproved, so he raced under his mother's maiden name, spelled slightly differently, to keep his karting hidden. He dropped out of an engineering course in 1974 and worked in a garage to fund his racing.

Piquet won the Brazilian national karting title in 1971 and 1972, and he took the 1976 Brazilian Formula Vee championship. Advice from Emerson Fittipaldi led him to Europe, where he broke Jackie Stewart's record for the most wins in a British Formula 3 season in 1978.

Three world titles across two decades of turbos, Brabham and Williams, and a career that ended with a Benetton win at Montreal.

How did his early Formula One career develop at Brabham?

His first start in Formula One came for Ensign at the 1978 German Grand Prix, starting 21st and retiring on lap 31 with a broken engine. He drove a McLaren in three races that year, with a best finish of ninth in Italy, before joining Brabham for the final race of 1978.

In 1979 he teamed up with Niki Lauda at Brabham, and it was a difficult season for the team. He retired from eleven of the fifteen races, but he regularly qualified in the top five and often out-qualified Lauda. His first points came with fourth at the Dutch Grand Prix.

When Lauda quit before the Canadian Grand Prix, Piquet became the number one driver, and the team debuted the new BT49 with a Ford-Cosworth engine. He started from the front row at the United States Grand Prix that year and took the fastest lap, a sign of what the car could do.

His 1979 season began badly, with a first-lap pile-up in Argentina, and at Monza he suffered a huge accident after a clash with Clay Regazzoni that tore the rear section from his car. He walked away unhurt from that crash, which was one of the most dramatic moments of his early Brabham years.

In 1980 he finished second in Argentina behind Alan Jones, and he won his first Grand Prix at Long Beach. He then added wins in the Netherlands and Italy in consecutive rounds, finishing second in the standings, 13 points behind Jones after a crash at the Canadian Grand Prix ended his title hopes.

How did Piquet win his first world title in 1981?

Piquet won the 1981 championship with Brabham, beating Carlos Reutemann by a single point after a season of changing fortunes. The title came from a run of results in the middle of the year, when he took the German Grand Prix win at Hockenheim and then went into the final race a point behind Reutemann.

Earlier in the year Brabham had got around the ground-clearance rule with a suspension arrangement that met the ride-height rule at inspection, then lowered it at speed. Piquet won the Argentine Grand Prix with that approach, and the San Marino race, where he triumphed despite being caught out by rain.

At the final round in Las Vegas he finished fifth, enough to clinch the title. He was so dehydrated and exhausted in the desert heat that he was lifted out of the car when he returned to the pits.

How did the 1983 title come about?

Piquet won his second championship in 1983, driving the arrow-shaped BT52 with BMW turbo power. He had been trailing Alain Prost by 14 points with three rounds to go, but he won at Monza and then at Brands Hatch and then finished third in the final race of the season in South Africa.

The title was the first championship for a turbocharged car, and it was the only championship BMW won in Formula One. Piquet's season had also included a second place at Monaco and a fastest lap, which kept him in contention all year.

The 1982 season had been much harder. A disqualification for an underweight car followed his win at Rio, and BMW's turbo engines were unreliable. He still won the Canadian Grand Prix, the first win for BMW in Formula One, which showed that the package could win when it finished.

Why did Piquet leave Brabham for Williams?

He quit Brabham after seven years and two titles, joining Williams in 1986 on a contract worth far more than his Brabham salary. He felt his loyalty had been taken for granted, and he was unhappy about the switch to Pirelli tyres, which he felt had been driven by financial reasons.

At Williams he became the teammate of Nigel Mansell, and the two were rivals as well. In 1986 he won four races, but the title went to Alain Prost in a closely fought championship. Honda reportedly paid most of his salary during those years, and the company later regarded him as its number one driver. He later said he had expected the team to back him as number one, and the relationship with Mansell soured during that year.

In 1987 he won his third title in a battle with Mansell. He had an accident at Imola that year, and a medical chief ordered him not to race for a time after the concussion. He won Monza that year, one of his three wins at the Italian circuit. Piquet later said the accident had left lasting problems with depth perception, and that he had kept quiet about them while still racing.

What happened at Lotus and Benetton?

Piquet signed for Lotus as number one for 1988, a status he said had been promised to him at Williams, but the team's chassis was not competitive, and he took no wins that year. His best finishes were three third places, while Ayrton Senna took the title for McLaren with eight wins.

His teammate at Benetton in 1990 was Alessandro Nannini, who had to retire before the Spanish Grand Prix after a helicopter crash left his right forearm needing surgical reattachment. Piquet took the points that Benetton needed in the closing races.

In 1989 he drove a Judd-powered Lotus and finished fourth at the British Grand Prix, a performance he regarded as a strong result for the car. He left Lotus after the team announced that it would use Lamborghini engines in 1990.

In 1985 the Pirelli tyres struggled in the cold European races, and the Brabham BT54 was tricky to set up. Even so, Piquet won the French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard, which was Pirelli's first victory since its return to Formula One.

Piquet joined Benetton for 1990 on a payment-by-results deal. He won the Japanese Grand Prix and the Australian Grand Prix, which was the 500th World Championship Grand Prix, and he finished third in the championship with 43 points. He won his final Grand Prix at Montreal in 1991, and he retired in January 1992.

What did Piquet do after Formula One?

Piquet tried the Indianapolis 500, qualifying for the 1993 race after a serious foot and ankle injury in practice in 1992. He started 13th but finished 32nd, retiring with engine problems after 38 laps.

His helmet, white and red with a seam that looks like a tennis ball, reflects his father's wish that he would become a tennis player. His sons followed the same design.

He also raced sportscars. He won the 1981 Nurburgring 1000 km in a BMW M1, took eighth at the 1996 Le Mans 24 Hours in a McLaren F1 GTR, and won the Mil Milhas Brasileiras in 1997 and again in 2006. He founded Autotrac in 1992, a satellite tracking company for trucks, and Piquet Sports in 2000 to support his son. He earned a place in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame during 2000, and Autosport ranked him 13th among the greatest drivers in 2009, while a circuit in Brasilia also carries his name.

Piquet had firm views about the circuits as well. He called Monaco a poor place for racing, yet he loved Monza, and he said a win there was worth more than two anywhere else.

What controversies followed Piquet?

Piquet became known for insulting rivals during and after his career. In 1988 he made comments about Nigel Mansell and his wife, and he said Enzo Ferrari was senile,. He also made a false claim about Ayrton Senna's sexuality.

In 2021, during a Brazilian podcast interview, he used a racial slur about Lewis Hamilton when discussing a clash between Hamilton and Max Verstappen. After the comments resurfaced in 2022, he apologised, saying they were not meant to be racist. Newly found footage also showed homophobic language against Hamilton from a 2016 interview.

In July 2022 he was banned from the F1 paddock because of the statements about Hamilton. A court in Brazil later ordered him to pay R$5,000,000 in damages, in March 2023. The paddock ban was removed at the close of 2024, and he attended the Sao Paulo race as Red Bull's guest that year.

Career summary