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
A1 Team Australia A1 Team Australia A1 Team Australia was the Australian team of A1 Grand Prix, an international racing series. The team chairman is former Formula One world champion Alan Jones, backed by general manager and former NASCAR driver Peter Nolan. The seat is owned by Formula One talent-spotter come principal engineer Alan Docking through his eponymous racing team organisation. Will Power was the team's driver for the opening round at Brands Hatch, scoring a fourth place in the Sprint Race and a second in the Main Race, beaten only by Nelson Piquet, Jr. who dominated the weekend. Power amassed 16 points