Today we will talk about one of the heroes of the "royal" sport - "Formula 1". He got this name because of the high cost of the competition. The price of a car with accessories (their 80,000 components) for the season will cost you 15,000,000. e. This is if everything goes smoothly, without any accidents. Motors here do not live long at furious speeds. In the season they spend a couple of million dollars. Plus, gearboxes for a slightly smaller amount. One nut per wheel costs 110 oz. e., they need 500 pieces, and the wheels themselves with wheels worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. The list of expenses is long, truly accessible only to kings.
Facts from the biography
The name of the hero of this article is Soutu Major, but he became famous in the world of motorsport under the name Nelson Piquet. Now there is a prefix - "senior" or "junior", but more on that later. A serious civil servant, Minister of Health and the owner of his tennis club Estacio Gonçalves Soutu Mayor, who lived in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), had a fourth child. The youngest of 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 working as the head coach of the national team).
Fatal match
The family had their own court, money too. There was nothing wrong with this, if you do not take into account that the boy liked cars and fast driving. Rumor has it that between the son and father held a tennis match-bet. If the father wins, the son will have to play tennis, but if he loses, then he will allow him to conquer motorsport. Nelson won, but at the age of 15 he was not yet allowed to drive.
Education and the first race
To distract their son from racing, parents seized the moment and sent their son to study in California. Nelson studied English and adopted the experience of an independent life from wealthy parents. Upon arriving home, the bad news awaited him. In a car accident on a motorcycle, his older brother crashed. About motorcycling to raise the topic at the family council after that was inappropriate. But you won’t go against nature, and Nelson still took part in kart racing.
Quite quickly, he became the champion of Brazil in the class of engines with a volume of not more than 155 cubic centimeters. To prevent relatives from learning about these activities, Nelson in the minutes indicated his mother's maiden name - Pique. A passion for cars and women gave him the nickname "racing playboy." In the early seventies, he won various national races. In 1976, gained the title of national champion, winning six times in the “Formula Super Vi” and “Atlantic”.
The beginning of a great career
Further the path lay to Europe, where in 1978 the race driver Nelson Piquet repeatedly became the winner of various competitions and in the end won the championship of England in “Formula 3”. For this, he received an invitation to try his hand at Formula 1 racing. And then his great career began. Having been educated by Nika Lauda himself, Nelson quickly turned from beginners to the motorsport aces of those times.
Victory
Continuously participating in 14 F-1 seasons for seven years of racing, Nelson Piquet, the eldest three times became the world champion (in 1981, 1983, 1987). Once occupied the second step and three times was in third place. He performed very stably at a time when the technique was still far from perfect. Turbocharging was just beginning to be introduced, it was necessary to have a special skill to keep the balance of motors from overheating. Nelson Piquet at least once, but won one of the Grand Prix in his 10 seasons out of 14. We can now see races of those times only on the Internet. In our countries in the USSR there were no broadcasts of this sport at that time so as not to distract the people from the building of communism.
Interesting Facts
In an interview, Nelson Piquet could not help but distinguish himself so as not to say a sharp word about his colleagues. He even tried to beat one of them after an accident in a race. It was in 1982 at the Grand Prix in Germany when, after a collision on the highway, Nelson Piquet could not restrain his fervor and dealt several blows to the Chilean racer Elicio Salazar. Fortunately, the riders at that time were still wearing helmets and protective suits, so serious injuries would not have been possible even with a strong desire. But the fact remains.
The youngest son of a great racer
One of the racer’s sons, Nelson Piquet, Jr., as he 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 at NASCAR in the fight even for 14th position. There was one dark move in the Renault team, for which Nelson Piquet, Jr., was at that time in favor. Under the threat of dismissal, he was asked to arrange a shell accident at the Singapore Grand Prix in 2008, where, after a successful wiring, his teammate 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 Pet Symonds - were in the right place at the right time. They have been punished by removal from the great sport, and litigation is still ongoing in this case. Racers still pardoned in this case.
Personal life
Undoubtedly, this is a great sport, so the showdown in it is also not small. But the merits of Nelson Piquet do not diminish these cases. He has a large family and many children. Five sons and two daughters. You can write about this achievement for a long time. Now the couple do not live together. The wife of Nelson Piquet was the Dutch model Sylvia Tamsma, with whom they lived bright years of life. All of their sons distinguished themselves, some to a greater extent, some to a lesser extent, in motorsport. Beautiful daughters, too, did not remain gray mice. The youngest daughter Julia starred in 2003 in the movie "Second Chance."
Kelly - Piquet's oldest daughter
Nelson's eldest daughter, Pique Kelly, was born on December 7, 1988, when her parents lived in Germany. Studied in Europe, but graduated from high school already in Brazil. Graduated in international relations in New York. Fluent in English, Portuguese and French. She has blogs of various fashion magazines. She worked as a volunteer in Tanzania - she taught children English. And since 2014, she began to lead the SMM department and leads pages on social networks about Formula E competitions. But the most interesting thing is that at one of the parties in Monaco she was seen in company with our Formula 1 driver, Daniil Kvyat.
Although they have a difference of six years, their relationship is developing. Perhaps someday Daniel will finally become the first champion from Russia in these prestigious world competitions, or maybe even the son-in-law of the outstanding three-time champion in Formula 1, Nelson Piquet, Sr., who continues his races further.
After leaving F-1, having made his last race at the Australian Grand Prix in 1991, he went into the shadows. Young Michael Schumacher established his leadership in these competitions for a long time. Nelson Piquet did not humiliate himself with constant defeats. For a great racer it would be too offensive. It is better to stay victorious in the hearts of your fans. Nelson did just that.
But, apparently, age began to take its toll, big sport was left behind. Nelson did not give up and continued racing in the INDY series, where he received a serious warning from above. He had a severe accident and broke both legs. After recovering, he continued to perform anyway, now in the races of the Le Mans series in 1996-1997. But never having achieved serious results, he realized that he needed to give way to the young, and left to run his own iron stable in Formula 3.