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Nelson Piquet Jr.

Name: Nelson Piquet Jr

Nationality: Brazil

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• Nelson Piquet Jr

Nelson Piquet Jr. enters his rookie season in F1 with a great deal of expectation resting on his shoulders as the son of a former World Champion.

His father is one of just a handful of drivers who have achieved the honour of winning the F1 World Championship on more than two occasions, clinching the title in 1981, 1983, and 1987.

And Brazil is now looking to his son, Nelsinho, for a new World Champion.

Nelsinho's racing career started in 1993 in Brazilian karting, where he would stay until 2001 when he moved to Formula Three Sudamericana.

In 2003, he moved to the UK to participate in the British Formula 3 Championship and form the Piquet Sports team. He went on to take third place with six wins, five podiums and eight pole positions.

A year later the Brazilian won the British Formula 3 Championship, becoming the youngest driver to take the title at the age of 19 years and two months.

In 2005, he took part in the inaugural A1 Grand Prix season for Team Brazil, winning the very first Sprint and Feature races of the series at Brands Hatch.

That year he also joined the GP2 Series, driving for HiTech/Piquet Sports, winning his first GP2 race in Belgium. He stayed in GP2 in 2006 where he claimed second place in the Championship just behind British driver Lewis Hamilton.

He moved on to a full-time test driver role with Renault in 2007 having already tested with Williams and Honda.

His performances during Renault's test sessions led the team to sign him as Fernando Alonso's team-mate for the 2008 Championship.

However, it remains to be seen whether the 22-year-old will challenge Alonso for number one status at Renault as Hamilton did at McLaren - or indeed whether the team will let him.