Piquet in numbers
481.5 official points
3Drivers’ titles
1981, 1983, 1987
7th of 789 all time
2Constructors’ titles
1986, 1987
24th of 789 all time
11.3% of races
11.8% of races
29.4% of races
0Drivers’ titles
none
0Constructors’ titles
none
0Drivers’ titles
none
0Constructors’ titles
none
2Drivers’ titles
1981, 1983
of 3 in the career
0Constructors’ titles
none
14.3% of races with Brabham
19.8% of races with Brabham
31.9% of races with Brabham
0Drivers’ titles
none
0Constructors’ titles
none
0Drivers’ titles
none
0Constructors’ titles
none
1Drivers’ titles
1987
of 3 in the career
2Constructors’ titles
1986, 1987
of 2 in the career
22.6% of races with Williams
19.4% of races with Williams
67.7% of races with Williams
0Drivers’ titles
none
0Constructors’ titles
none
9.7% of races with Lotus
0Drivers’ titles
none
0Constructors’ titles
none
9.4% of races with Benetton
21.9% of races with Benetton
Nelson Piquet won three world championships in seven years, with two different teams and in three ways that have nothing in common. A Brazilian born in 1952, he made his debut in 1978 and by the following year he was a Brabham driver, the team with which he won thirteen of his twenty three Grands Prix. The first victory came at Long Beach in 1980, from pole position.
His first title, in 1981, he won by one point at the final race in Las Vegas, with his rival Carlos Reutemann starting from pole and finishing without points. The second, in 1983, was the first drivers' championship for a turbo engine, a BMW, and he snatched it at Kyalami when Alain Prost retired. The third, in 1987, came with Williams and without having to fight for it at the end: Nigel Mansell, his team-mate, was injured in practice at Suzuka and missed the last two races.
Afterwards he moved to Lotus and finished his career at Benetton, where at 38 he won two races in a row at Suzuka and Adelaide in 1990. The last of them all, in Montreal in 1991, came from eighth on the grid. He retired with 204 Grands Prix, 24 poles and 60 podiums.
Ver en españolRating by season
- First season
- 83 1987
- Peak
- 84 1988
- 1991
- 82 Benetton
5 seasons in the database, from 1987 to 1991. Our own rating, from 50 to 99.
Teams
Tags
Best year
1981
What would Nelson Piquet have achieved with a different car or in a different era?
Related drivers
His team-mates
20 team-mates across 14 seasons. When both finished the race, Piquet was ahead in 42 of 61; on the grid he started ahead in 140 of 205.
| Year | Team-mate | In the race | On the grid |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Brett LungerMcLaren · 3 races | · | 0-3 |
| 1978 | Patrick TambayMcLaren · 3 races | 0-1 | 0-3 |
| 1978 | James HuntMcLaren · 3 races | · | 0-3 |
| 1978 | Bruno GiacomelliMcLaren · 2 races | 1-0 | 0-2 |
| 1978 | Harald ErtlEnsign · 1 race | · | 0-1 |
| 1978 | John WatsonBrabham · 1 race | · | 0-1 |
| 1978 | Niki LaudaBrabham · 1 race | · | 0-1 |
| 1979 | Niki LaudaBrabham-Alfa Romeo · 14 races | 0-1 | 6-7 |
| 1979 | Ricardo ZuninoBrabham-Ford · 2 races | · | 2-0 |
| 1980 | Hector RebaqueBrabham · 7 races | 2-0 | 7-0 |
| 1980 | Ricardo ZuninoBrabham · 6 races | 2-0 | 6-0 |
| 1981 | Hector RebaqueBrabham · 14 races | 4-0 | 14-0 |
| 1982 | Riccardo PatreseBrabham · 14 races | 3-0 | 9-5 |
| 1983 | Riccardo PatreseBrabham · 15 races | 1-1 | 10-5 |
| 1984 | Teo FabiBrabham · 12 races | 2-0 | 12-0 |
| 1984 | Corrado FabiBrabham · 3 races | · | 2-1 |
| 1984 | Manfred WinkelhockBrabham · 1 race | 1-0 | 1-0 |
| 1985 | Marc SurerBrabham · 12 races | 5-0 | 11-1 |
| 1985 | François HesnaultBrabham · 3 races | · | 3-0 |
| 1986 | Nigel MansellWilliams · 16 races | 4-5 | 8-8 |
| 1987 | Nigel MansellWilliams · 15 races | 3-5 | 4-9 |
| 1987 | Riccardo PatreseWilliams · 1 race | · | 1-0 |
| 1988 | Satoru NakajimaTeam Lotus · 14 races | 5-1 | 13-1 |
| 1989 | Satoru NakajimaTeam Lotus · 13 races | 1-0 | 11-2 |
| 1990 | Alessandro NanniniBenetton · 14 races | 3-3 | 9-5 |
| 1990 | Roberto MorenoBenetton · 2 races | 2-0 | 2-0 |
| 1991 | Roberto MorenoBenetton · 11 races | 2-0 | 8-3 |
| 1991 | Michael SchumacherBenetton · 5 races | 1-2 | 1-4 |
The first number is always Piquet's. A team-mate is whoever started the same race for the same team. "In the race" only counts races both finished, because a retirement says nothing about who was quicker. "On the grid" is the starting position, with penalties already applied.
Compare Piquet with another driver
Titles, wins, poles and podiums side by side, against any of the 789 drivers in history.
Keep reading
Where Nelson Piquet comes up in what we have measured, with our own numbers.
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