Formula One drivers from Brazil Lance Stroll for the 2017 season. On 4 November 2017, Massa confirmed that he would be retiring from Formula One at the end of the 2017 season. Formula One drivers from Brazil There have been 31 Formula One drivers from Brazil including three world champions. Ayrton Senna, the three-time title winner, is regarded by many as the best driver in the history of Formula One. Nelson Piquet also won the title three times and Emerson Fittipaldi was a two-time winner. Rubens Barrichello holds the record for the most races contested and finished as the championship runner-up in two seasons. Following
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