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 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 enjoyed additional F1 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. However a great win at soggy Spa Francorchamps proved his ability.

A handful of races in the fledging A1GP series followed with Piquet taking dominant double victories at Brands Hatch for A1 Team Brazil. 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 squad. Piquet tested 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 made his F1 debut at the Australian Grand Prix of 2008.

With hindsight, spending the year out of active competition hindered Piquet as he struggled initially with the demands of Formula One. Being team-mate to Alonso would never be an easy task but more frequently than not, the Brazilian looked out of his depth. As the season progressed, Piquet put his string of accidents and mechanical problems behind him culminating in a fortunate but most welcome second position in the German Grand Prix.

The Hockenheim result would remain his best result of his debut season, but Japan and China brought much more assured performances, albeit with a lesser reward. Piquet remains with Renault in 2009 and should he continue his more recent gains in performance, he will become a valuable asset to the team.