Nelson Piquet

Born 17 August 1952, Piquet hid his karting hobby from his father after abandoning tennis, then became Brazil's national karting champion in 1971-72. He won Formula Vee Brazil in 1976 and broke Jackie Stewart's Formula Three wins record in 1978 before debuting in Formula One that same year with Ensign. He joined Brabham in 1979, finished runner-up in 1980, and took his first title in 1981. After engine trouble wrecked 1982, he claimed a second championship in 1983. He moved to Williams in 1986 and won his third title in 1987 amid a bitter feud with teammate Nigel Mansell. Form dropped at Lotus from 1988-89, then he won three final races at Benetton before retiring in 1991. He tried Indianapolis and sports cars, then settled into business in Brazil - where his use of homophobic language led to a paddock ban in 2022, lifted two years later.