Nelson Piquet Jr.

Nelson Piquet Jr. (born 25 July 1985), also known as Nelsinho Piquet, is a Brazilian former Formula One and Formula E driver. He currently competes full-time in the Brazilian Stock Car Pro Series. Before the F1, Nelsinho shined in F3 and finished runner-up in the 2006 GP2 Series.

The son of three-time Formula One world champion Nelson Piquet, he was signed as test driver for the Renault F1 team in 2007, and was promoted to the race team by Flavio Briatore to the race team in 2008, before being dropped midway through the 2009 season.

In 28 Formula One starts, Nelsinho Piquet scored one podium – at the 2008 German Grand Prix at Hockenheim – with a fine second place (picture below) and scored a total of nine career points.

After losing his drive, it emerged that he had, under huge pressure from senior members of the team, Pat Symonds and Flavio Briatore, crashed deliberately at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix to help his teammate, Fernando Alonso, win the race. The resulting scandal was one of the most significant in racing history, and ultimately saw the end of Piquet Jr’s F1 career. It must be added that his bosses, were banned from the Formula One.