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
Nelson Piquet Jr. both the Sprint and Main races at the first event of the season at Brands Hatch, as well as scoring a point for the fastest lap. He also drove for the HiTech/Piquet Sports in the GP2 Series, winning his first race at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, and tested for the BAR-Honda Formula One team. In 2006, Piquet took second place in the championship behind British driver Lewis Hamilton in his second year of GP2. During the 2007 season he was the official test and reserve driver for the Renault Formula One team. The 2008 season saw Piquet promoted to the Renault