59 replies to this topic

[John B]

As requested on another thread....

Up through 1984 Piquet was certainly rated very highly, his season in 1983 was outstanding and his 1984 campaign was underrated due to excessive failures - he had something like 9 poles vs the McLarens. 1985 was kind of a throwaway experimenting with Pirelli tires.

He was the concensus choice for the 1986 title, which didn't happen and in fact from mid-1986 on he had a real hard time with Mansell who frequently outpaced him during this time. In fact their splitting points and wins played a large role in Prost staying in the hunt and pulling off the Hail Mary title win in Australia. With Honda power 1988 was a disaster, granted similarly engined McLaren had everything going for them but the best of the rest were Ferrari and Benetton though he managed a resurgence in 1990.

Not routing Mansell plus the simple fact that he did not ring up the giagantic win/pole totals that Prost, Senna, and Schumacher have would to me seem the answers why he doesn't receive as high a regard.

[Louis Mr. F1]

Piquet could've achieved alot more but didn't due to several reasons.
during 86-87, when he was competing with Mansell,,he was under pressure to outpace this Englishman, who he had low regard before. When he found Mansell ahead of him, he made lots of mistakes in trying to make up. France 86 spun and then stalled in the pit, Jerez 87 Spun, Australia 86 spun (with the WC at stake) This lost him precious points. I remember Jackie Stewart rated Prost higher than Piquet in 86 because Piquet made alot more mistakes than Prost.

Then his Imola accident in 87 didn't help. He said after that, he had to change his approach to settle for points scoring instead of wins. and I've no doubt that accident did affect his performance.

The way he developed the active suspension was praised by many people at Williams. Unfortunately, when he moved to Lotus, he didn't insist in his contract to have the active car in 88. I remember he said he was surprised to find out later that active
was not included in the 88 car. That's another mistake. Piquet wasted 2 years @ Lotus.
in 1990, although he was not at his peak of his career anymore, but his consistency net him 40 points and a surprise 3rd in WC. Sadly, he slipped into oblivion again in 91( the win in 91 was .... gifted)
Schumacher's arrival put the final nail into the coffin.

I remember Schuey commented on his relationship with Piquet. He said when they were in a team briefing, Piquet wouldn't say anything and let Schuey said. Then after Schey left the meeting, Piquet would start talking in order to hide his opinion/experience. Schuey said "well 3 times WC, if you are like this, I don't care because I am faster than you" to some extent, you have to feel sorry for Piquet, a young guy appeared from nowhere and suddenly he's #1 in the team, and you are supposed to be the 3 times WC.

[RJL]

Nelson was a great driver in an era of great drivers. Piquet drove against the likes of Lauda, Prost, Villeneuve, Senna, & Mansell
(forgive me if I've overlooked your personal fave). NP also had a really witty way about him as I recall. He was always good for a quote. I remember when he impied that Ayrton was good at autoracing because he had so much free time as he "doesn't like girls". Regarding Nige, Nelson said "Nigel Mansell is a blockhead with a stupid and ugly wife". And this when they were teamates! I swear I read that somewhere, boy did I laugh.

Sure NP's stats don't quite measure up to the likes of MS, AS, AP. But who cares, he was a great driver in his day. Also I met him for a (very) brief moment at the Canadian GP in 1986 and he managed to smile, so maybe I'm a little biased.

[Peeko]

"Nigel Mansell is the fastest idiot in the world." - Nelson Piquet

I love that line...

[John B]

NP is the last person I've heard use the insult "blockhead"

One guess as to which driver he was referring to...

[RJL]

I remember when NP & Nige were teammates at Williams NP drove Nige nuts with suggestions that the team was going to build him an extra small tub for the following season to get an aerodynamic advantage.

[Manson]

Sorry, I had to go out of the office to do some work. Imagine that?

Anyway, there was an unsubstantiated prank that Nelson played on the Brabham team where he jumped out of the car just before the pits and let the car coast down the track less driver. The crew thought he had been decapitated! Or so the rumour goes.

I just remember the 83 season as one of the best, maybe just my memories but Nelson came from behind to snatch the title from Prost's hands in the final round. That beautiful Brabham BT52 really came good in the last couple of races (with the help of BMW). Three driver (Rene Arnoux also) had a mathematical chance of winning the title heading to the final round at Kyalami (the old, great track). Even Tambay was in the running until the second last round. It was a great year, no tragedies and losts of good racing.

Never met Nelson, but I was very upset the day he had his big wreck at Indy. But in typical fashion, he beat the odds and raced there the next year.

[Ric Bol]

Piquet - Simply the best!!

[Andre]

Maybe not the best brazilian driver ever, but an intriguing character. Sometimes rude,sometimes funny, sometimes rude and funny at the same time, but above all, always true to himself.
His son, Nelson Angelo Piquet, seems to be doing well in the South american F3 championship.

[Super KingKong]

Can we say that a Nigel Mansel did to Nelson Piquet in 1986 what a SENNA did to Prost in 1988????

It seems , Mansel in 1986 came in partnered Piquet and outpaced him just like in 1988 Senna .


So, the reason this guy was not rated highly was because of the number of wins, maybe this guy is taking a safe route to the championship whereby the fans see it as not exciting

[Super KingKong]

Among all the crazy quotes of Nelson Piquet, for the best that have heard so far has got to be "Nigel Mansel's wife is ugly"

[Super KingKong]

Which was the three years Nelson won his WDC???


And who was his main rivals on those three years?

And apart from that 3 championship years, surely Nelson did got close to WDC a couple to times, such as in 1985 when the great Alain Prost stole from under the nose of the Williams pair:up:

[Mila]

the allegations of Piquet not sharing technical info with his teammate arose at Williams as well. as for your MS quote, Louis Mr. F1, this may indeed have been Piquet's modus operandi regardless, but also keep in mind that--as we know from the first chapter of the "Piranha Club"--the Brazilian disliked his rookie teammate seeing that his arrival at Benetton meant the demise of his close friend, Moreno.

Super KingKong, Piquet topped Jones, Reutemann, and (dark horse) Lafitte in 81, Prost in 83, and Mansell in 97.

I don't think that Piquet did a good job of handling the pressure from Mansell in 86; on the teammate front, he was probably spoiled during the latter seasons at Brabham.

as I recall, the physical affects of his 87 Imola shunt were more or less undisclosed through that season. perhaps the guy didn't want to make any excuses, or perhaps the press wasn't interested in hearing any. whatever, I think that he did extremely well to take the WDC in 87.

ps: I recently became aware of the rumors that the Brabham team used illegal fuel towards the end of 83. could anyone shed light on this subject?

[coyoteBR]

Ah, Piquet... pure entertainment, the last of romantics in F-1.
He was from an era where a driver must know the car upside down, be also a mechanic if necessary. Now we are surrounded by drivers who can't say a thing without their marketing manager approval (exception to Irvine. Keep going, Eddie!)

Some piquet-isms...

Asked, in the starting grid, if he wanted to win on that day
"No, today I want to be the 17th!"

After learning Mansell asked for a statue of his wife for his home in england
":laughs: So, Nigel isn't happy with the ugliest woman in the World, he also wants the second ugliest."

"Senna's PR guy should be called 'flying saucer'. He's short, fat and no one gives him credit."

A quick tale: during a GP of Mexico, Nelson noticed his teammate, Nigel Mansell, got the "montezuma illness" and that the British pit stops are not exactly due to mechanic reasons. So, Nelson Hided every toiled paper he could find. Acornding to NP:
"When Nigel discovered the prank, started to roar like a Lion. Now I understand the nickname."

Piquet was a great driver. And one of the few drivers I would like to have a happy-hour with

[senninha]

Originally posted by Super KingKong
Can we say that a Nigel Mansel did to Nelson Piquet in 1986 what a SENNA did to Prost in 1988????

It seems , Mansel in 1986 came in partnered Piquet and outpaced him just like in 1988 Senna .

No, for sure.

1st - Piquet got into NM's field and receveid the 2nd driver team number (NP was number 6, as Senna was 12 in 1988);

2nd - NM stated 86 season well due a lot of NP's car problems. Of course, NM had good moments too (brit) as NP did in Brazil, for example;

3rd - the second part of 86 season was Piquet's domination - did anyone can forget Germany, Hungary and Italy victories for example?

4th - NM finished with 70 pts; NP with 69 pts (just because he receveid an order of biggest NM supporter - Patrick Head - to pit when he was ahead at Australia just after NM's tyres blew. NP finished just 4sec behind AP on that GP.) 1986 was an amazing year...

In 86 both were pretty equal.

After San Marino 87, NP's career changed a lot... But he was smarter than NM and won the title, despite beeing slower (like Prost did in 89)

Lotus ... forget

Benetton - in 2 years he had 3 victories and finished 3th in 90 WDC.
The last breath of a true champion. (btw: In 2,5 years of Benetton, MS had only 2 victories)

In 91, he was 40 years old. Time to retirement.

Until San Marino 87, he was the master of eighties, by far. The king of poles positions and wins.

[ludlum]

Originally posted by Manson
track less driver.

[holiday]

Met Piquet in '96 at the Interlagos GP. Well, to be precise nearly met him. A friend of mine and me were standing at the helicopter take-off area and a girl, oh boy what a girl caught my eyes. After a while my friend showed up: "Hey, have you just seen?! Just talked with NP for quite a while!" "Piquet? WHERE?! Where?! - ****, that girl over there proofed to be quite...distracting."
"Well, that's his girl-friend."

[Tom R]

Nelson was a great racing driver. Nowadays there seems to bit a problem people focussing too much to praise only one guy. Usually MS, AS and AP. The best driver is the best driver, but that doesn't mean he can/will beat eveyone else anyday. Ayrton couldn't, neither can Michael.

Maybe it's because in the modern era cars are not so equal and there are much fewer winners or podium finishers. Because of my age I haven't been able to watch F1 in the 70's, but at least in 80's, there were usually three smily faces on the podium. This is pretty rare now. Only winner seems to enjoy being there and the other two are like they've swallowed dead rat.

80's left us more heroic stories and more "legends" than 90's.

[molive]

Piquet was one of a kind. A true Champ.

He's also my neighbor (almost) I mean, he lives between Brasilia and Rio and he's always around (he owns the BMW and Pirelli distributors here in Brasilia). His shop is a kinda museum, with plenty of pictures in the walls, and a Full size Williams hanging on the wall.

[Super KingKong]

Originally posted by Mila
the allegations of Piquet not sharing technical info with his teammate arose at Williams as well. as for your MS quote, Louis Mr. F1, this may indeed have been Piquet's modus operandi regardless, but also keep in mind that--as we know from the first chapter of the "Piranha Club"--the Brazilian disliked his rookie teammate seeing that his arrival at Benetton meant the demise of his close friend, Moreno.

Piquet, being MS' teammate for a short while certainly knew that the rookie is really something special i guess.

[Super KingKong]

Originally posted by senninha


No, for sure.

1st - Piquet got into NM's field and receveid the 2nd driver team number (NP was number 6, as Senna was 12 in 1988);

2nd - NM stated 86 season well due a lot of NP's car problems. Of course, NM had good moments too (brit) as NP did in Brazil, for example;

3rd - the second part of 86 season was Piquet's domination - did anyone can forget Germany, Hungary and Italy victories for example?

4th - NM finished with 70 pts; NP with 69 pts (just because he receveid an order of biggest NM supporter - Patrick Head - to pit when he was ahead at Australia just after NM's tyres blew. NP finished just 4sec behind AP on that GP.) 1986 was an amazing year...

In 86 both were pretty equal.

After San Marino 87, NP's career changed a lot... But he was smarter than NM and won the title, despite beeing slower (like Prost did in 89)

Lotus ... forget

Benetton - in 2 years he had 3 victories and finished 3th in 90 WDC.
The last breath of a true champion. (btw: In 2,5 years of Benetton, MS had only 2 victories)

In 91, he was 40 years old. Time to retirement.

Until San Marino 87, he was the master of eighties, by far. The king of poles positions and wins.

As for the 1986 Autralian GP, it really takes a very big man to make a decision like Patrick Head did to call Piquet in for safety. For me, that intensity and importance of that decision was on the same scale as the fighter pilot's and president's decision of whether to shoot down the passenger plane (with hundreds of passenger in it) that later crashed into WTC that killed many many more......assuming that the jet fighter caught up with the passenger plane.

It seems that Piquet didn't make any noise about that decision, very very very very gentleman act from Nelson if thats true.

But,.......I dare not think what was inside Piquet's mind when he just found out that he lost to Prost the WDC.

[Super KingKong]

Originally posted by coyoteBR
Ah, Piquet... pure entertainment, the last of romantics in F-1.
He was from an era where a driver must know the car upside down, be also a mechanic if necessary. Now we are surrounded by drivers who can't say a thing without their marketing manager approval (exception to Irvine. Keep going, Eddie!)

Some piquet-isms...

Asked, in the starting grid, if he wanted to win on that day
"No, today I want to be the 17th!"

After learning Mansell asked for a statue of his wife for his home in england
":laughs: So, Nigel isn't happy with the ugliest woman in the World, he also wants the second ugliest."

"Senna's PR guy should be called 'flying saucer'. He's short, fat and no one gives him credit."

A quick tale: during a GP of Mexico, Nelson noticed his teammate, Nigel Mansell, got the "montezuma illness" and that the British pit stops are not exactly due to mechanic reasons. So, Nelson Hided every toiled paper he could find. Acornding to NP:
"When Nigel discovered the prank, started to roar like a Lion. Now I understand the nickname."

Piquet was a great driver. And one of the few drivers I would like to have a happy-hour with

No wonder Mansel hate him so much:lol:

[Super KingKong]

Originally posted by molive
Piquet was one of a kind. A true Champ.

He's also my neighbor (almost) I mean, he lives between Brasilia and Rio and he's always around (he owns the BMW and Pirelli distributors here in Brasilia). His shop is a kinda museum, with plenty of pictures in the walls, and a Full size Williams hanging on the wall.

hey...tell me what his shop sells?.........his souveniers?

Would be cool if you could post a picture of his shop.


And, is he always around in his shop?......

[molive]

My mistake, it's not a shop, it's a store. And it sells BMWs and Pirelli Tires, among other things.

Nelson is not "always around" since he has many businesses and is always travelling, but if you're lucky you can catch him while aligning your wheels

A few days ago I went to a traditional thursday night motorcycle event in the NP Autodrome (near my place) and there was a big truck with his famous tear-drop helmet design parked near the paddock, the I spotted him chatting with mechanics. I guess he was there checking the cars of the Formula Esprom, which he created to boost the local racing scene (they developed a prototipe powered by BMWs which are relatively cheap and allow for great races).

[mikedeering]

I never really liked Piquet - I think his comments in the Eighties went beyond being childish - which he obviously was.

He was as fast as anyone in the early 80s, but I think Mansell's sudden rise to prominence really affected Nelson. He was supposed to be #1 at Williams, having won 2xWDC at that stage. Mansell was something of a "loser" at that stage - he had never done anything special at Lotus, lost his seat to Senna in 1985 and never viewed as WDC material whoc could win 30+ races.

So 86 was going to be all about Piquet - and Mansell somewhat showed him up - winning 4 of 5 races at one point mid-season.

After Nelson dominated in Brazil, maybe he relaxed too much and thought it would be easy - because he then entered a very barren patch.

After Mansell's success, Piquet really began to turn against him - at Hungary in 86 he found a diff that was well suited to the track, and didn't share the info with Mansell - so Piquet won and Mansell was lapped. Not exactly a team player...

Although only 1 point separated the two in 86, Mansell won an extra race, and Iooking back he was certainly the more impressive. And it may have been 1 point, but Piquet had not been beaten by a team mate for years - going back to 1978 I think. Patrese was probably the best competition he faced as a team mate before Mansell.

1987 was more of the same - Mansell was clearly faster than Piquet throughout the year, but he suffered a lot more mechanical failures, and in the case of Hungary bad luck. He still won 6 times to Piquet's 3. And looking back, all Nelson's wins were inherited - he was not leading any of them with 5 laps to go!!!

Germany - Prost's alternator expired
Hungary - Mansell's wheel nut fell off!
Italy - Senna ran wide lapping traffic

For 88, I think Piquet then had trouble dealing with Senna, who became the new Brazilian hero. In 88 Lotus and Piquet between them squandered a terrific engine in the Honda, and 89 was just embarrassing - Nakajima outraced Nelson on occassion and of course the team DNQ at Spa.

Respect to the man however - 1990 was something of a resurgence. He won two races, and ws consistent throughout the year - It was the first time I was impressed by Nelson for several years.

1991 was then something of a let down - before the season started many reckoned Piquet could be an outside bet for the title, following his 2 late wins in 1990, and a Barnard designed B191. I think the switch to Pirelli tires was a mistake, and the car was not great - at Piquet's age then (nearly 40) he couldn't be bothered, and in the end left F1 quietly.

[klipywitz]

Hi there guys...

Piquet, I think, was the most colorful driver in F1... I mean, there were some pretty funny things -- he had a sense of humor that was endless. That is why many people disliked him.

I remember once, when nobody was looking in his Williams years, that he went ahead and took a piss on Mansell's fuel tank in the pits. That was one of my favorites. I also liked that one where he said that driving in monaco was like driving a bike through his living room. (or was it an helicopter?). Something to that effect. Gotta love him.

At any rate, Piquet was an amazing driver with lots of natural talent and very, very intellingent. Piquet started as a mechanic in Brazil a long time ago, and knew absolutely everything about cars. He was a great developer and really knew how to enjoy life as well -- and that was his problem. He was never as dedicated to the job as AS was or MS is, but his natural talent was up there.

Now, in regards to his years at Williams, Piquet, who never really complained about things in a whiny manner. When he complained about things, it was because there was something wrong -- he called it as he saw it.

He complained about a couple of things that are noteworthy. First, he always complained about Prost, how he was double-faced and always manipulated the press into thinking he was a nice guy. Which, by the way, was what Prost did with Ayrton later.. Hence the nickname "the fox" Prost also had.
Now, this comes from a pretty down to earth guy... I mean, I remember a friend telling me about a cocktail party in Rio where he was present, and he was talking to this group of people telling them how once he was in a party of this really uptight lady, and he was a little tipsy already, and he stepped on dogs*** outside before going in, and when he went in he stepped in this lady's living room's white carpet she cared so much about.. He was telling everybody how embarassed he felt and how pathetic he felt looking down and seeing the dog droppings in his shoes and on the carpet... I mean, how many of these image-oriented, at times egocentric, drivers of today would tell a story that made fun of themselves? That was Nelson. If he thought it was funny, he would tell it.

He also complained that he did not receive equal treatment when at Williams. And I believe that because he wouldnt moan in the press about it -- he would only talk to some people that were close to him. If the press (or anyone for that matter) was around, so be it. Not only that, but it still seems to me that there is a pretty big bias towards Brits in F1, being that it is an almost Brit enterprise.

Now, about 1987 (among other things), I remember Nelson explaining to a reporter what was going on at Williams... They were told not to go over 12k rpms I think, and Mansell was constantly going over 13k -- no rev limiters back then. So, Piquet decided that he would take it to 12 and stay there. He figured that Mansell would either break or win. He believed he (Mansell) had better equipment, so he stood back and let Mansell do the stupid thing and push it... Between us, Mansell wasnt the smartest guy out there, though he was fast. That was his tactics. In Mansell's defense though, so you dont think I dont like him too, I think he had the cleanest hands... Whenever you got a shot of Mansell in-car taking a turn, his hands would be smooth -- he would barely "chop" it to correct the car. But then again, the Williams were one nice car back then.

You guys gotta remember that back in those days, as it was said, you didnt win a championship for nothing -- there were a lot of good people out there. And Piquet could have gotten at least one more.

And, by the way, when he had that accident at Indianapolis, (which was mechanical failure, btw, but never admitted since he was just there for that race), he was topping the time charts. And he was well liked to. One of the funniest things in Formula 1, for me, was that when that accident happened in Indianapolis. Nanini (remember him? the guy that had an helicopter accident and lost a hand that was re-attached a couple of hours later) sent a telegram to Piquet (they were good friends, naturally) which said to Piquet something like this:"Dont worry. Next race you drive, and I willl accelerate". Now, yes, it is a morbid sense of humor, but that was the kind of thing that cheered him up - he saw humor in everything. Gotta admire that.

[Billy]

Originally posted by Louis Mr. F1
I remember Schuey commented on his relationship with Piquet. He said when they were in a team briefing, Piquet wouldn't say anything and let Schuey said. Then after Schey left the meeting, Piquet would start talking in order to hide his opinion/experience. Schuey said "well 3 times WC, if you are like this, I don't care because I am faster than you" to some extent, you have to feel sorry for Piquet, a young guy appeared from nowhere and suddenly he's #1 in the team, and you are supposed to be the 3 times WC.

Piquet said the opposite in an interview with F1 Racing

I never felt Michael was getting preferential treatment at Benetton, not at all. Of course he was very quick, sometimes quicker than me. I saw he was good value. He was a very nice guy and Benetton wanted him to sign for the next year. I was happy to open up and show him everything.

[Super KingKong]

Now who is lying and who is telling the truth???

[klipywitz]

Piquet not saying anything sounds unlikely to me.

[Indian Chief]

Here's a great photo of Piquet in 1991.

[mhferrari]

Ahhhh, sparks.

[padovani]

Originally posted by klipywitz
(...)One of the funniest things in Formula 1, for me, was that when that accident happened in Indianapolis. Nanini (remember him? the guy that had an helicopter accident and lost a hand that was re-attached a couple of hours later) sent a telegram to Piquet (they were good friends, naturally) which said to Piquet something like this:"Dont worry. Next race you drive, and I willl accelerate". Now, yes, it is a morbid sense of humor, but that was the kind of thing that cheered him up - he saw humor in everything. Gotta admire that.

Legend says that he replied to that:
[Nannini's feet, Piquet's hands...] "Ok, but *my* head"

[holiday]

Nelson Piquet:

I was, obviously, already at Benetton in 1991 when Michael Schumacher arrived for the Italian Grand Prix. At the time, I didn’t know that it was to be my last season. If I had had a good offer for ’92 from a very good team, I would have taken it. But I didn’t see a place to go. It was better to stop. I didn’t issue a press release about it, like they do now.

I never felt Michael was getting preferential treatment at Benetton, not at all. Of course he was very quick, sometimes quicker than me. I saw he was good value. He was a very nice guy and Benetton wanted him to sign for the next year. I was happy to open up and show him everything.

Looking back, I probably couldn’t see myself doing what I did any more. There is a right time for everything, and I had passed mine. Even after three championships, it’s a bloody repetitive job. That can be bloody frustrating. But it was also very good. Maybe I didn’t take things seriously enough. But also, maybe, it was the best thing.

Source: http://www.itv-f1.co...p3?mediaid=3640

Does anybody know the url of Piquet's unofficial homepage?
There was a funny photo with Nelson wearing a bavarian hat while talking to a Brabham mechanics. Also, a picure of him playing fun on Balestre.

[Rediscoveryx]

Another prank that Piquet played was in the 1984 West German GP.

He was driving the terribly unreliable Brabham at the time (in fact, had the car been more reliable - Piquet could quite possibly have been the champion. He had four troublefree races and finished 1-1-2-2 in those...) and suddenly, with no warning he dove into the pits making the signal for a tyre change to his mechanics. As they were not expecting this, a minor panic erupted among the mechanics who quickly stressed the tyre change. When the jacks came down, Piquet calmly stepped out of the car

'The gearbox is broken' he said with a smile

[molive]

Originally posted by Rediscoveryx
When the jacks came down, Piquet calmly stepped out of the car

'The gearbox is broken' he said with a smile

[HSV]

Thanks guys!

He was my fave driver of the 80's and reading all these quotes makes me like him even more. Eat your heart out Eddie Irvine! He was the KING of fun!!

Plus I loved that gorgeous BMW-powered Brabham he won his first two champ'ships in.

[mikedeering]

Originally posted by HSV
Thanks guys!

He was my fave driver of the 80's and reading all these quotes makes me like him even more. Eat your heart out Eddie Irvine! He was the KING of fun!!

Plus I loved that gorgeous BMW-powered Brabham he won his first two champ'ships in.

In 1981, Brabham were powered by DFV engines - BMW only started supplying the team midway through 1982. Interestingly, I think Piquet and Patrese scored a 1-2 finish in 1982 (Canada?) with Piquet having BMW power and Patrese using the old DFV - is this something that happened previosuly in the past?

[No27]

I always like Nelson Piquet because of his humour and his laidback style.
We had a cat called after him.

[senninha]

Originally posted by Super KingKong



As for the 1986 Autralian GP, it really takes a very big man to make a decision like Patrick Head did to call Piquet in for safety. For me, that intensity and importance of that decision was on the same scale as the fighter pilot's and president's decision of whether to shoot down the passenger plane (with hundreds of passenger in it) that later crashed into WTC that killed many many more......assuming that the jet fighter caught up with the passenger plane.

It seems that Piquet didn't make any noise about that decision, very very very very gentleman act from Nelson if thats true.

But,.......I dare not think what was inside Piquet's mind when he just found out that he lost to Prost the WDC.

I saw an NP's interview and he said - to me as an escuse because he obbeid Head - more or less this: "when you know there is a tyre problem, you have no choice, because it can blow everytime and everywhere, without advice"

The only man i really hate in F1 world is Patrick Head. Because he did everything to make his coutryman champion against Piquet and in 94 he helped (he's the engineer) to kill Senna.

Frank Williams is more unpartial. But when Nigel won 3 races in a row in 85, i thought "NP's time will not be easy"

Mansell was with high moral and knew the team well.

If there wasn't this lack of command (Frank had the accident), piquet 'd have won 86 easily, because he was - at least - as fast as Mansell.

After Imola 87, he changed and Mansell dominated. But the lion is very dumb and unlucky(sorry, NM's fan, i do like him, either).

But there was always Head's hands in order to help Mansell. Even in 87. Do you remember Italy? Piquet ans Senna great battle and Mansell 1 min behind.

Piquet was using for the first time the active suspesion, after doing more than 10000Km of tests. NP worked to have this advantage over NM.

NM, after the race, cried to Head: "I don't like active suspension" and Head fordiden the use for the rest of the season in order to help Nigel ...

But Williams receveid what deserved - Judd engines for 88 and number "1" at Lotus car.



btw: at benetton

N. Piquet - 4,5 pts
M. Schumacher - 4 pts

[holiday]

Originally posted by senninha
btw: at benetton

N. Piquet - 4,5 pts
M. Schumacher - 4 pts

at Williams:

D. Hill - 6 pts
A. Senna - 0 pts

[senninha]

Originally posted by holiday



at Williams:

D. Hill - 6 pts
A. Senna - 0 pts

??????????

NP's last race was under heavy rain in Australia 91. I'll never forget that amazing overtake over MS on rain ... Old NP was still great. Finished 4th (would be second, because NM and GB crashed on lap wich was the race redflagged).

There was a funny NP's quote about MS: "since MS (and his fans) are all stats lovers, they'll have to deal with it. I beated MS on points in 91! (laughing)"


btw: AS's last race, tecnically, was in Brazil. I remember AS lapping DH , with the same car, on lap 40 !!!

btw2: NP is MS's big fan, actually.

[molive]

Originally posted by senninha


Btw2: NP is MS's big fan, actually.

yep, he is. he call MS "O Alemão" (the german)...

[Indian Chief]

Originally posted by molive


yep, he is. he call MS "O Alemão" (the german)...

I am starting to like NP more and more. If I watched F1 in the 1980s, he would have been my favourite driver.

Even now, my favourite F1 video clip is the bout between Piquet and Salazar in 1982.

[coyoteBR]

A serious side of Nelson Piquet. Racing at Silverstone, in a lesser formula (will check the data later), Piquet noticed it would be a rainy weekend. Now, at that time, was comon knowledge that, in a wet race, the cars should have all the aerodinamic pressure possible. But Piquet noticed that Silverstone had very few corners and long straight lines, so he set up his car for dry weather. Nelson Piquet:
"They laughed at me. In the first corner, a lot of people overtook me, but I gained positions in the straight lines. That's the history of the race: I made the corners with extreme care and, in the rest of the circuit I would overtake'em like a rocket. I guess that was my easiest victory."

[molive]

I think NP enjoyed his F1 career more than anyone else, just because he allowed himself a good laugh...gotta love that!

[Garagiste]

Some of you lot are far too easily pleased.
A "professional" sportsman calls a co-competitor's wife ugly, and you actually find this funny / clever

[coyoteBR]

That's the point, Garagiste. Piquet never needed to pretend to be the ideal sportsman, youth model or any of these PC things most marketing people enforce nowadays drivers to look like. He was authentic, a real guy.

Let us have some fun

[Garagiste]

Like I could stop you BR!;)
I see where you are coming from, I;m no fan of the PC madness myself. This is going too far though IMO. Mansell himself is fair game, his wife is of no concern to NP or anybody else.
I think it makes some of us sound mature...

[John B]

IndianChief, that's a great photo.

That flying saucer quote is pretty good too, there's someone at work I'll have to use that on when the opportunity presents itself

[OssieFan]

Originally posted by senninha
The only man i really hate in F1 world is Patrick Head. Because he did everything to make his coutryman champion against Piquet and in 94 he helped (he's the engineer) to kill Senna.

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