Nelson Piquet - misunderstood? [Archive]

futuretiger9

14th February 2007, 00:09

I've been thinking about the common perception of Nelson Piquet (snr). Many, particularly in the F1 media, tended to regard Piquet as immature and devious in his approach, and could never bring themselves to rank him with the Sennas, Clarks, Fangios or even Mansells of this world.

Looking back, one could argue that he had a massive natural talent, which he perhaps never fully exploited, despite being a triple world champion. His sense of humour was an acquired taste, maybe, but in retrospect we could do with someone like him in the current F1 scene.

I wonder whether Nelson actually cares how he is regarded in an historical context. I suspect not. He always seemed happy to just race on his own terms, and enjoy the benefits. He probably had a lot more FUN in his career than most of his contemporaries. He appeared determined to combine the playboy lifestyle with the serious business of motor racing.

Any thoughts on this?

wedge

14th February 2007, 02:43

Part of the problem was his conservative tactics and being quick on his day doesn't tick all the right boxes for most fans who prefer aggressive driving styles a la Senna and Mansell.

No surprise that he won WDCs during showdowns. He was quite happy to sit back, wait for the likes of Mansell to go the limit, and then pick up the pieces.

I was too young to fully appreciate Piquet, but I've read Berger ranked Piquet third behind Senna, Prost and ahead of Mansell.

ChrisS

15th February 2007, 13:47

I think Piquet's reputation has a lot to do with his behavior when he was at lotus with an uncompetitive car. during that time he seemed ready to attack anybody at anytime.

His relation with the F1 media has a lot to do with his rivalry with Mansell

Mansell was loved by the all powerful British F1 media. As a result his main rival, the man that cost him the 86 and 87 titles was the enemy.

ArrowsFA1

15th February 2007, 14:22

I think Piquet's reputation has a lot to do with his behavior when he was at lotus with an uncompetitive car...
It's possibly also to do with the perception that he "cruised" to his 1987 title by driving for points rather than racing for wins. It's a rather unfair view, particularly given that he had a serious accident during practice for the San Marino GP, the effects of which probably lasted longer than he let on.

futuretiger9

17th February 2007, 01:03

Piquet almost seemed to revel in his lack of popularity with sections of the media. It is true that in 1987 he concentrated on racking up the points after having the wind taken out of his sails in the Imola shunt. Also that year he infuriated Mansell by trying a new differential, in Hungary as I recall, and not divulging its virtues to Nigel. Piquet won the race handily. That was just the sort of stunt, and "unfair advantage", that Nelson thrived on.

ShiftingGears

20th February 2007, 09:24

I think he just didn't ever care about being popular, frankly. I don't think he was quite on the same level as Prost and Senna, and he wasn't as spectacular as Mansell (though having said that, his pass on Senna at Hungary '86 was absolutely phenomenal), and he didn't win as many races as the other three, so I guess you could see why people tend to underrate him. Despite the fact that he won three world championships.

nik

23rd February 2007, 01:46

Anyone that hides all the toilet paper when Mansell has Montyzumers(SP?) revenge, ranks up as a complete legend in my book. :laugh:

BDunnell

23rd February 2007, 14:28

Mansell was loved by the all powerful British F1 media. As a result his main rival, the man that cost him the 86 and 87 titles was the enemy.

Mansell certainly wasn't loved by all sections of the British F1 media, it is worth pointing out. However, I think the fact that Piquet's rivalry with Mansell at the time does have a lot to do with the perception the average fan has of him.

(By the way, he was also the subject of a particularly baffling, though wonderful, Murray Walker gaffe: "A mediocre season for Nelson Piquet, as he is now known, and always has been.")

Simpson RX1

26th February 2007, 02:53

Mansell certainly wasn't loved by all sections of the British F1 media, it is worth pointing out. However, I think the fact that Piquet's rivalry with Mansell at the time does have a lot to do with the perception the average fan has of him.

(By the way, he was also the subject of a particularly baffling, though wonderful, Murray Walker gaffe: "A mediocre season for Nelson Piquet, as he is now known, and always has been.")

That was probably a typically oblique Murray reference to the fact that it wasn't his given name.

EuroTroll

26th February 2007, 19:27

Whenever I see the title of this thread it occurs to me that it really should be "Nelson Piquet - ****?"

Don't know why. :p :

futuretiger9

26th February 2007, 23:22

Mansell certainly wasn't loved by all sections of the British F1 media, it is worth pointing out. However, I think the fact that Piquet's rivalry with Mansell at the time does have a lot to do with the perception the average fan has of him.

(By the way, he was also the subject of a particularly baffling, though wonderful, Murray Walker gaffe: "A mediocre season for Nelson Piquet, as he is now known, and always has been.")

Mansell was adored by the British tabloid press, the "general public", and the TV and radio stations, as they regarded him as good box office. However, he was loathed by much of the specialist F1 press in the UK. I think they struggled to know who to support during the Mansell v Piquet years.

Osella

28th February 2007, 01:28

His sense of humour was an acquired taste, maybe...

Well I certainly acquired it! ;) I first started following Piquet when he was driving for Benetton in the late 80's, so unfortunately missed out on his best driving, but seeing as he started racing in the 70's and was still winning races in the 90's I always thought he was a bit special having taken three titles along the way. He had a great driving style, and I will never forget his reaction to Canada 1991 :laugh: and his sense of humour was great :up:

Anyone who hasn't seen it, try and look up the Hungary '86 video, spectacular :eek: , round the outside of Ayrton Senna at turn 1, tyres smoking, opposite lock, fantastic!

futuretiger9

28th February 2007, 22:52

Nelson DID divide opinion, but one way or another he was difficult to ignore! He didn't go out of his way to cultivate an image or persona with the media, which may have counted against him in the long run. However, his record, and no doubt his bank balance, speaks for itself!

ArrowsFA1

1st March 2007, 11:12

...his sense of humour was great :up: .
Here's an example with Nelson trying to thumb a lift from his team-mate :laugh:

jens

6th March 2007, 12:44

Was it Piquet, who once said: "Driving at Monaco is the same as trying to ride a bicycle in a room" ? :p :

100%hondafan

6th March 2007, 17:33

you meen this ?? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFeFKKM-LN0

what a move!!

Osella

11th March 2007, 17:40

That's the one! :up:

futuretiger9

11th March 2007, 20:05

Hungary 1986 was a great duel. It showed how Piquet could really turn it on and produce the goods when he wanted to.

Shifter

12th March 2007, 19:03

Piquet hilarity http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3flougoFzM

futuretiger9

12th March 2007, 23:41

Although Salazar did pretty well in sportscars and IRL, unfortunately he will always be best remembered for this incident!

ArrowsFA1

13th March 2007, 09:33

I've read somewhere that Piquet's BMW was about to fail in that race, so the whole incident was rather pointless!! Particularly as Salazar & Piquet had been friends :p

Bolton Midnight

31st March 2007, 16:32

Piquet hilarity http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3flougoFzM

This video has been removed by the user.

Was this the Hockenheim handbags at 20 paces?

I've read somewhere that Piquet's BMW was about to fail in that race, so the whole incident was rather pointless!! Particularly as Salazar & Piquet had been friends :p

Was it not Serra he'd been friendly with, or was it Salazar he helped beat Serra?

BeansBeansBeans

31st March 2007, 22:37

Piquet is the subject of an interview in the latest edition of Motorsport magazine.

It's interesting to note that there is still no love lost between he and Nigel Mansell. He describes Mansell as having a bad attitude during their time together at Williams, which had a very negative effect on the whole team.

Interestingly, Mario Andretti speaks similarly of his time as Mansell's team-mate in 1993.

sezix

31st March 2007, 23:43

Piquet was very funny at times. When you think of the '80s you tend to forget he was champion 3 times in that decade, quite impressive. And think of Senna, Prost and even Mansell with his near misses.
I think his Brabham titles were quite impressive.
I doubt Piquet was the best ever but he was still a very good driver.

He was also very funny with his no **** comments about Mansell: 'He's an educated blockhead' LOL and also quite shocking and unfair calling Senna gay.
But he certainly got the battle mentally over Mansell which I think destroyed him and what Prost picked up on when he moved to Ferari along side Nigel.

I'm surprised Nigel got annoyed with Piquet's practical jokes considering Berger also was just as big at them, and Nige had a good sense of humor.

I just Nige was quite paranoid and easily stirred.

Bolton Midnight

2nd April 2007, 11:32

NP should never have had a pop at Mrs Mansell than was pretty low, wives and family should remain off limits.

NP championship in 81 was really down to Gordon Murray's cheat mechanism of lowering the cars, his 83 victory because he was willing to give up his title chances in 82 to develop the BMW Turbo unit.

87 was by being more smart than Mansell.

Mansell was meant to be a clear number 2 driver at Williams. Had Piquet not pitted to swap tyres in 86 Australia he'd have been world champ then too.

A brilliant driver who knew you didn't need to go balls out on every lap to win championships. Hence why he has 3 titles and 'our Nige' just the one.

Seem to recall a tale when he was at Benetton, he 'borrowed' a female photographers camera and took close up picks of his willy, not realising his name was visible in shot on his overalls :-)

ArrowsFA1

2nd April 2007, 12:39

...his 83 victory because he was willing to give up his title chances in 82 to develop the BMW Turbo unit...
Mmmm...Renault would disagree. They maintained at the time that it had more to do with the fuel Brabham were using ;)

Had Brabham perservered with the BT49 in 1982 there was more than a fair chance they could have won the title. Gordon Murray has admitted they didn't appreciate quite how good the 'old' car was but BMW were pushing very hard for their engine to be raced and (IIRC) issued an ultimatum to the team around the Canadian GP - use our engines or we take them elsewhere. Piquet won that race in the BMW car while Patrese was 2nd in the Cosworth-powered BT49. From then on it was Brabham-BMW all the way!

Piquet was certainly a strong advocate for the BMW turbo, but Patrese race-tested the development parts, and suffered the failures as a result, that helped Piquet have a successful 1983.

ArrowsFA1

31st July 2007, 10:53

Three-time Formula One champion Nelson Piquet began taking a driving education course on Monday in Brazil after having his license revoked for racking up too many traffic violations, local media reported.
Piquet lost his license in June after receiving a slew of speeding and parking tickets. His wife, Viviane, also had her license taken away for bad driving and joined her husband in the mandatory driver awareness course.
"I think we have to pay for our mistakes," Piquet, 54, told local news agency G1. "It's not even just a speeding problem. I got tickets for all kinds of reasons, for things like parking where I shouldn't."
Piquet and his wife will have to attend 30 hours of classes over eight days and pass an exam before regaining their licenses.
Piquet is one of the best-known race car drivers to come out of Brazil, having won the Formula One championship in 1981, 1983 and 1987.

http://www.autosport.com/news/grapevine.php/id/61229

ShiftingGears

31st July 2007, 11:12

AHAHAH!
Does this mean that Mansell finally gets the last laugh? :p :

tinchote

31st July 2007, 14:13

Three-time Formula One champion Nelson Piquet began taking a driving education course on Monday in Brazil after having his license revoked for racking up too many traffic violations, local media reported.
Piquet lost his license in June after receiving a slew of speeding and parking tickets. His wife, Viviane, also had her license taken away for bad driving and joined her husband in the mandatory driver awareness course.
"I think we have to pay for our mistakes," Piquet, 54, told local news agency G1. "It's not even just a speeding problem. I got tickets for all kinds of reasons, for things like parking where I shouldn't."
Piquet and his wife will have to attend 30 hours of classes over eight days and pass an exam before regaining their licenses.
Piquet is one of the best-known race car drivers to come out of Brazil, having won the Formula One championship in 1981, 1983 and 1987.

Now my wife can be happy that she is on par with an accomplished F1 champion ;) :p :