Son of triple World Champion of the same name, Nelson Piquet started his racing career in Brazilian karting circles before moving to the South American F3 series in 2001 finishing fifth in his first half season of competition. The title would follow in 2002 and Piquet moved to the UK at the age of 17 to compete in British F3.

With his own team in British F3 in 2003, Piquet finished a solid third in the championship with six wins. A test with BMW Williams followed and in 2004 Piquet won the British F3 title with another six victories and additional mileage with Williams.

Piquet tested with the Honda F1 team in 2005 as well as competing in the inaugural GP2 championship. The season was a tough one for Piquet as reliability issues robbed the Brazilian of many strong race results but a win at soggy Spa Francorchamps proved his ultimate ability.

A handful of races in the fledging A1GP series followed with Piquet taking dominant double victories at Brands Hatch for A1 Team Brazil run by Emerson Fittipaldi. Piquet returned to GP2 competition in 2006 and fought eventual champion Lewis Hamilton for the top honour.

By the time the series got ready for the season finale at Monza, Piquet had already concluded a deal to become test driver for the championship winning Renault. Piquet tested with Renault for the first time in September 2006 and spent 2007 gaining test mileage with the team.

With Fernando Alonso returning to Renault as its number one driver, Heikki Kovalainen made it clear he was not interested in being the dutiful number two driver. This opened the door for Piquet who will make his Grand Prix debut in Australia in March as Alonso's team-mate.