Racing driver Nelson Piquet: biography, achievements, family and interesting facts

Today we will talk about one of the heroes of the "royal" sport - "Formula 1". This name was received because of the high cost of the competition. The price of the car with components (there are 80,000 components) for the season will cost you 15,000,000. E. This is in case if everything goes smoothly, without accidents. The engines live here for a short time on mad revolutions. In the season, they spend a couple of million dollars. Plus, the gearbox for a slightly smaller amount. One nut per wheel is 110 y. E., They need 500 pieces, and the wheels themselves with disks for hundreds of thousands of dollars. The list of expenses is long, truly accessible only to kings.

Facts from biography

The name of the hero of this article is Soutou-Mayor, but he became famous in the world of motorsport under the name of Nelson Piquet. Now there is a prefix - "senior" or "junior", but more about this later. A serious child was born to a serious civil servant, health minister and owner of his tennis club Estasio Goncalves Soutou Mayor, who was living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The youngest of the three sons (one daughter) was named Nelson. His father had high hopes for him. He wanted to give him a good education, with all his heart he wanted the boy to become the world champion in tennis (his father had experience as head coach of the national team).

The fateful match

His family had a court, money too. There was nothing wrong with that, except that the boy liked cars and fast driving. There are rumors that a tennis match-bet took place between the son and the father. If the father wins, the son will have to play tennis, well, and if he loses, he will allow him to conquer motor sport. Nelson won, but at the age of 15 he was not allowed to drive.

Education and first race

To distract his son from racing, the parents took advantage of the moment and sent his son to study in California. Nelson taught English and took over the experience of independent life from rich parents. Upon arrival home, he was expecting bad news. In a car accident on a motorcycle his older brother crashed. About motor sport to raise the topic on the family council after that it was inappropriate. But against nature you will not go, and Nelson still took part in kart racing.

Quite quickly he became the champion of Brazil in the class of motors with a volume of not more than 155 cubic centimeters. That relatives did not learn about these activities, in the minutes Nelson indicated the maiden name of his mother - Pique. Passion for cars and women gave him the nickname "racing playboy." In the early seventies, he won various national races. In 1976, he won the title of national champion, six times winning in the "Formula Super V" and "Atlantic".

The beginning of a great career

Then the way lay to Europe, where in 1978 racing driver Nelson Piquet repeatedly became the prize-winner of different competitions and eventually won the championship of England in "Formula-3". For this he was invited to try his hand at the Formula 1 race. And then began his great career. Getting education from Nika Lauda himself, from beginners Nelson quickly passed into the asyas of motorsport of those times.

Victory

Continuously participating in 14 seasons F-1 for seven years of racing, Nelson Piquet - senior three times became world champion (in 1981, 1983, 1987). Once he took the second step and was in third place three times. He performed very stably for the time when still the technique was far from perfect. The turbo was just beginning to be introduced, it was necessary to have a special ability to keep the motors' balance from overheating. Nelson Piquet at least once, but won in one of the Grand prix in his 10 seasons of 14. We can see the race of those times only on the Internet. In our USSR countries there was not yet a translation of this sport at that time, so as not to distract the people from the building of communism.

Interesting Facts

Nelson Piquet in the interview could not help distinguishing himself, so as not to say a sharp word about his colleagues. One of them after the accident in the race, he even tried to beat. It was in 1982 at the Grand Prix in Germany, when, after a collision on the track, Nelson Piquet could not hold back the heat and dealt a few blows to the Chilean driver Elisio Salazar. Fortunately, the riders at that time were still wearing helmets and protective suits, so that serious injuries would not have happened even with a strong desire. But the fact remained a fact.

Younger son of the great racer

One of the rider's sons - Nelson Piquet - Jr., as it is called in the press (the second nickname is Nelsinho) followed in the footsteps of his dad. He was a scandalous participant in "Formula 1". Arranged a fight in NASCAR in the fight, even for the 14th position. There was one dark move in the team, "Renault", for which at that time was speaking Nelson Piquet - Jr.. Under the threat of dismissal, he was asked to arrange a fake accident at the Grand Prix in Singapore in 2008, where, after a successful wiring, his team-mate Fernando Alonso won.

After leaving F-1 at the insistence of his father, this fact was raised. The instigators of this accident - the legendary Flavio Briatole and Pete Symonds - were in the right place at the right time. They were punished in the form of a suspension from the great sport, and so far lawsuits have been filed in this case. Racers still pardoned in this case.

Personal life

Undoubtedly, this is a great sport, so that the disassembly in it is also not small. But the merits of Nelson Piquet, these cases do not reduce. He has a large family and many children. Five sons and two daughters. This achievement can be written for a long time. Now the couple do not live together. The wife of Nelson Piquet was the Dutch model of Silvia Tamsma, with whom they lived bright years of life. All their sons distinguished themselves, who in the greater, to a lesser extent, in motorsport. Beauties-daughters also did not remain gray mice. Younger daughter Julia starred in 2003 in the movie "Second Chance".

Kelly is Piquet's eldest daughter

Nelson's older daughter Pique Kelly was born on December 7, 1988, when her parents lived in Germany. She studied in Europe, but graduated from high school in Brazil. Higher education in international relations was received in New York. Fluent in English, Portuguese and French. Led blogs of various fashion magazines. Worked as a volunteer in Tanzania - she taught the children English. And in 2014, began to manage the department of SMM and maintains pages in social networks about the competitions "Formula-E". But the most interesting thing is that at one of the parties in Monaco, she was seen in the company with our Formula One rider, Daniil Kvyat.

Although they have a difference of six years, but their relationship develops. Perhaps once Daniel finally becomes the first champion from Russia in these prestigious world competitions, and maybe even the son-in-law of the outstanding three-time champion in Formula 1 - Nelson Pike - the eldest, who continues his races.

After leaving F-1, making his last run at the Australian Grand Prix in 1991, he went into the shadows. Young Michael Schumacher has established his leadership in these competitions for a long time. Nelson Piquet did not begin to humiliate himself with permanent defeats. For a great rider, it would be too insulting. Better stay forever in the hearts of their fans a winner. Nelson did this.

But, apparently, the age began to take its toll, the big sport was left behind. Nelson did not give up and went on to race in the INDY series, where he received a serious warning from above. He got into a bad accident and broke both legs. After recovery, he continued his performances anyway, now in the "Le Mans" series in 1996-1997. But without achieving serious results, I realized that I had to give the road to the young, and left to manage my own iron stable in Formula-3.