Nelson Piquet Jr.: The Most Interesting Racing Career ever (?)

Nelson Piquet Jr.: The most Interesting Racing Career ever (?)

An Article by Brian Cotnoir

          There’s no doubt about it; Race Car drivers are some of the most interesting people in all of Pro-Sports.   Depending on the type of racing, these brave men (and a few pioneering women) travel at spends between 130-330 MPH (depending on their particular type of racing).  Auto Racing is one of the most dangerous sports, and is one of only two sports (the other being Professional Boxing), where there is no guarantee you’ll finish the event alive.  If you’re a professional race car driver you have to be—virtually—fearless, and there have been some amazing drivers, who have had some amazing careers.   And some have gone on to not really have amazing careers, but… well let’s say interesting careers nonetheless, and today I’m here to talk about a driver with one of the—if not the most interesting—racing career ever, Nelson Piquet Jr.

       Nelson Piquet Jr. is the son of three time Formula 1 World Champ, Nelson Piquet.  It’s not uncommon to see the sons of former World Champs want to follow in their famous father’s footsteps.  We’ve seen drivers like Damon Hill, Jacque Villeneuve, and Nico Rosberg, go on to have their own illustrious and championship winning careers, and even in sports like NASCAR and the NHRA, we’ve had drivers like Dale Earnhardt Jr., Richard & Kyle Petty, Dale Jarret, Davey Allison, and Britney & Courtney Force, while we’ve seen many of those drivers go on to have long or successful careers in one form of racing, Nelson Piquet Jr’s career has been all over the place.   

Piquet Jr’s Professional Career began in Formula 1 (like his famous father) in 2008 driving for Renault, where he was teammate with two-time world champion, Fernando Alonso.  Piquet Jr’s debut season in Formula 1 was marred by several retirements (the most famous of these retirement’s happening at the Singapore Grand Prix, but we’ll talk about that a little later), but he did manage to score in impressive 2^nd place finish at the German Grand Prix that year and finished 12^th in the final point standings.  Half way through the following season, saw Piquet Jr. finish more races, but he failed to score any points, and he was abruptly dropped by Renault after the Hungarian Grand Prix.  After that it was revealed by Piquet Jr. that he did indeed intentionally crash his car at the Singapore Grand Prix the previous, following team orders—and in doing so—endangering the lives of himself, the other drivers, the fans, and track safety workers, to bring out a Safety Car to give his teammate Fernando Alonso a better chance at winning the race (which he did win).  I could talk more about the infamous “Crash-Gate”, but if you’re really want to learn more about it, you can research it yourself.  So after the fallout from “Crash-Gate” Piquet Jr. was more-or-less black listed from Formula 1. 

With One smack of the Wall, Piquet Jr.'s career in F1 was doomed

          With no other racing options for Nelson Piquet Jr. in Europe, he made the jump overseas to NASCAR, running a handful of Xfinity Series and Truck Series Races.  Piquet Jr. came into the sport toward the end of the fad of seeing former open wheel drivers in Formula 1 and Indy Car come run in NASCAR.  After running two full seasons in the Camping World Truck Series, Piquet Jr. had managed to score 2 Wins (on oval tracks) and finished the Top 10 in points both years.  He also scored his first win in the Xfinity Series in his third 3^rd ever start at Road America, where he also held the pole.  He was the first Brazilian Driver Ever to win in NASCAR.  He was able to run one Full Season in the Xfinity Series (then called the Nationwide Series), but he unfortunately did not score any wins and only finished in the top 10 five times, never finishing higher than 8^th).   He had one start in the Cup Series at Watkins Glen, where he ran for the grossly underfunded Randy Humphrey Motorsports, finishing 26^th.  

Piquet Jr. Celebrating a Truck Win a Las Vegas

Piquet Jr's First Stock Car Win

I’m surprised Piquet Jr. didn’t spark any more interest in NASCAR.  He was a proven winner, and what set him apart from other Formula 1 and Open Wheel Drivers who came to NASCAR was that he could win on both Road Courses on Ovals.  Drivers like Juan Pablo Montoya and AJ Allmendinger, had success in NASCAR, but only on the road courses, but never found much success on ovals.   Piquet proved he could adapt and win on both, and he was a very welcome change to NASCAR.  He was also quite popular with fans.

After NASCAR, Piquet Jr. did a brief stint with Global Rally Cross before finding his way back into the FIA—the same body that sanctions Formula 1—driving in the newly established Formula E.  In the inaugural season of Formula E, Piquet Jr. won two races and took the championship by 1 Point!  Becoming the Series first ever champion.  He unfortuantley hasn’t won any races since that first season, but is still a part of Formula E and drivers for the Panasonic Jaguar Team.

The First ever Formula E Champion

And that is the story of Nelson Piquet Jr, the son of a former World Champion, who became an Auto Racing Pariah, a NASCAR underdog, and finally a World Champion, in his own right, and without a doubt a driver with one of the most fascinating racing careers ever.