Nelson Piquet Jr.

Name: Nelson Piquet Jr.
Born: July 25, 1985 in Heidelberg, Germany
Team: Renault
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 155 lbs.
Hobbies: Water sports, computer games

Previous F1 Teams:
    * 2003 - 2007 Test driver for Williams, BAR, Renault
    * 2008 Renault

Victories: 0

Background:
Nelson spent much of his boyhood in Europe living with his mother, which his father lived in Brazil. At age eight, his mother decided he should go live in Brazil with his father and learn the language and culture of that half of his parentage. The language he ended up learning was particularly that of racing. For the son of the three-time world champion took up go-karting and won the Brazilian championships several times. It was in the lowest level of go-karting that he also began the pattern that would continue in his career as he climbed the ladder: His father put together the teams he raced for.
His Career Thus Far:
In 2001 Nelson began his car racing career in a South American Formula 3 series, then raced in the Formula Renault series, before heading off to England in 2003 to begin his rapid climb to the top levels of world auto racing. He finished third in British F3 in 2003 and then in 2004 he won the series, following on his father's achievement from decades earlier. Nelson, however, at 19 years old, became the youngest ever winner of the series.

In 2005 he raced in the A1 series for Brazil before joining the GP2 series. In all of these racing series his teams were supported by his father, on a team they called Piquet Sports, but Nelson proved his worth within the structure. In 2006 he narrowly missed out winning the GP2 series in the last race of the season, and the title went instead to Lewis Hamilton.

Nelson's F1 Career:
Early on Nelson attracted the attention of Formula 1 teams thanks to both his results and his family name. He test drove for the Williams team in 2004 and for the BAR Honda team in 2005. In 2007 he became a full time test driver for the Renault team, and in 2008 that job turned into a full time racing seat to partner Fernando Alonso.

Character:
More than most of the sons of former champions to race in Formula 1 - Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve, Nico Rosberg - Nelson will have to prove that he is not just his father's boy. Having raced throughout most of his career on teams put together by his father, he will have to prove that he is capable of racing within an outside structure. With a teammate like Fernando Alonso at his side, this will be a difficult challenge. If Nelsinho stands up to it, he'll certainly be able to have a career ahead of him on a par with those of his illustrious predecessors.