Nelson Piquet, Jr.

Nelson Ângelo Tamsma Piquet Souto Maior (born July 25, 1985 in Heidelberg, West Germany), also known as Nelson Piquet Junior or Nelsinho Piquet, is a Brazillian stock car racing driver and former Formula 1 driver. He currently drives the #8 Qualcomm Chevrolet Silverado for Kevin Harvick Incorporated in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Piquet 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 was promoted to the race team for 2008, After losing his drive, it emerged that he had crashed deliberately at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix to help his teammate, Fernando Alonso, win the race; the resulting scandal has become one of the most important in the sport's history.

Personal Details

Piquet's parents separated soon after he was born, and he lived in Monaco with his Dutch mother, Sylvia Tamsma, until he was eight years old. He then 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...
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