Nelson Piquet career. Piquet is currently retired and runs several businesses in Brazil. He also manages his sons Nelson Piquet Jr. and Pedro Piquet, who are also professional racing drivers. Piquet was born in Rio de Janeiro, then the capital of Brazil, the son of Estácio Gonçalves Souto Maior, a Brazilian physician. His father moved his family to the new capital, Brasília, in 1960 and became Minister for Health in João Goulart's government (1961–64). Piquet had two brothers, Alexis, and Geraldo, and a sister Genusa. Piquet was the youngest of the children. Piquet started kart racing at the age of 14, but
Nelson Piquet Jr. the 2009 season. After losing his drive, it emerged that he had, under instruction from senior members of the team, crashed deliberately at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix to help his teammate, Fernando Alonso, win the race. The resulting scandal became one of the most significant in motor sport history, and ultimately saw a permanent end to Piquet Junior's career in Formula 1. Piquet also finished runner-up in the 2007 GP2 Series, fourth in the 2014 Global Rallycross Championship, and seventh in the 2012 NASCAR Truck Series. Piquet Jr., born in Heidelberg, West Germany, is the son of three-time Formula