Personal Life
Known as a practical joker, Piquet lived a stereotypically playboy racing driver lifestyle, earning and losing and earning again a series of small fortunes in his business dealings. One of the great characters of 1980s Formula One. He remains a competitive driver in sports car racing, albeit more for fun than with serious intent. He was critical of the Monaco Grand Prix by famously stating Monaco was like "riding a bicycle around your living room".
Piquet entered into a first marriage with Maria Clara in 1976 with the marriage lasting for one year. They have one son, Geraldo Piquet (born 17 November 1977) His second marriage to Sylvia Tamsma produced three children, Nelson Angelo Piquet (born 25 June 1985), Kelly Piquet (born 7 December 1988), and Julia Piquet (born 8 May 1992). Laszlo Piquet was born in 1987, but his mother is Katherine Valentin. He is currently married to Viviane de Souza Leão and they have two children, Pedro Estacio Piquet (born 1999) and Marco Piquet (born 2000).
On July 31, 2007 Piquet, after repeated speeding and parking offenses, was stripped of his civilian driving licence and ordered by the Brazilian courts to attend a week of lessons in order to "learn good and safe driving conduct", and to then pass an exam. His wife Viviane received the same sentence. "I think we have to pay for our mistakes," Piquet told Brazilian media. "It's not just a speeding problem, I got tickets for all kinds of reasons, like parking where I shouldn't."
He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2000 and two racing circuits in Rio de Janeiro and in Brasília have been named "Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet".
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“A man lives not only his personal life, as an individual, but also, consciously or unconsciously, the life of his epoch and his contemporaries.”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)