Nelson Piquet prized as a good player but not thought sufficiently exciting for the sport, which led him to devote his career to motor racing. Piquet dropped out of a University two years into an engineering course in 1974. He was subsequently employed in a garage to finance his career, since he had no financial support from his family Upon returning to Brazil, Piquet and three friends brought a 20 hp cart and participated in Brazilian go-karting (1971 and 1972 national champion) and in the local Formula Super Vee 1976 championship, on the advice of Emerson Fittipaldi, the first Brazilian Formula One
Renault Formula One crash controversy Renault Formula One crash controversy The Renault Formula One crash controversy, dubbed Crashgate by some in the media, is a sporting scandal perpetrated by the Renault F1 team who ordered Nelson Piquet Jr. to crash deliberately during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, to gain a sporting advantage for his Renault teammate Fernando Alonso. On 28 September 2008, on the 14th lap of the Singapore race, the Renault R28 driven by Piquet crashed into the circuit wall at turn 17, necessitating a safety car deployment. The other Renault driver, Fernando Alonso, had previously made an early pitstop, and was promoted to