Max Verstappen Girlfriend: Who Is Kelly Piquet and Her Controversial Father Nelson Piquet?

Red Bull ace Max Verstappen has taken over the world of F1 in the past two seasons with his glorious back-to-back titles and records. Ever since his debut in 2015, he had been tipped to become a world champion.

Red Bull advisor, Helmut Marko brought Verstappen into F1 as a child prodigy. He proved Marko right by becoming one of the toughest competitors in the sport as he grew into his career.

The Dutchman clinched his first title in the 2021 season in a season-long fierce battle with Lewis Hamilton. In 2022, Verstappen clinched his 2nd title and also helped the Red Bull team clinch their long-awaited constructors’ title. This saw an end to Mercedes’ 8 years of dominance.

Through it all, his girlfriend Kelly Piquet has stood by his side cheering him on. Ever since the duo made their relationship official, Piquet is often seen on the paddock and expresses her excitement over his achievements.

But who is she? How did she come to know Verstappen and how they started dating and what is her profession? Well, there’s a lot to know about her as the duo’s personal life is quite public. Keep reading to know more about Kelly Piquet.

Who is Kelly Piquet?

Kelly Piquet is a Brazilian model and has officially been dating the Dutchman since the end of 2020. She was born in Germany in 1988 and spent most of her childhood with her mom, Sylvia Tamsma, a Dutch model.

At the age of 12, the young Piquet moved to Brazil to live with her father, Nelson. She finished high school in England but did her senior year in Brazil.

She moved to New York to pursue her further studies after graduating. She got enrolled in Marymount Manhattan College and obtained a degree in international relations.

Kelly found her calling in modelling

While studying in New York City, Piquet began to work in fashion. She worked as a stylist assistant at Vogue Latin America and as a buyer for Bergdorf Goodman.

The young Piquet then followed in the footsteps of her mother and headed into the modelling business. She worked with major brands such as Pepe Jeans, PatBo and Louis Vuitton.

Piquet fills up her social media with her modelling content on regular basis. One of her recent modelling ventures even landed her in controversy amidst the F1 world.

Who is Kelly Piquet’s father?

The 34-year-old model is the daughter of the former 3-time world champion Nelson Piquet. He has been ranked as one of the top F1 drivers of all time. Piquet raced in Formula 1 in the 1980s.

Piquet Sr. came into the spotlight recently for making racist and homophobic comments about Lewis Hamilton in 2022. He was called out by the F1 world after his 2021 interview resurfaced on Twitter.

He used a racial slur to refer to Hamilton and even made a homophobic comment about the 7-time world champion. Following the uproar, Piquet was banned from entering the F1 paddock.

Piquet Sr. is not the only one who raced in F1 in his family. His son, Kelly’s brother, Nelson Jr, too used to race in F1 from 2007-2009.

Who is Kelly’s ex-boyfriend and her daughter?

Kelly gave birth to her daughter Penelope in 2019, with the former F1 driver Daniil Kvyat whom she was dating at the time. Penelope brought a lot of good luck for Daniil as the day after she was born, Kvyat claimed his maiden podium driving a Toro Rosso.

The Russian driver dedicated his achievement to Kelly and their child. In 2016, Verstappen replaced Kvyat from the Red Bull F1 team. The Russian driver was demoted to the Red Bull junior team(Toro Rosso).

A few months after Penelope’s birth, Kvyat and Piquet parted ways. At the beginning of 2021, Piquet shared a post with Verstappen and made their relationship official.

Verstappen and Piquet declared their relationship on social media in the early stages of 2021 in an Instagram post.

Kelly Piquet and controversies

Women in Motorsports

Recently Kelly Piquet sparked controversy after she appeared on the cover of the Dutch edition of Vogue magazine with the caption “pole position.”

It was an edition focusing on “Women in motorsports” and fans were heated over the fact that Kelly was the woman chosen for this particular edition.

Fans across social media were of the opinion that Vogue should have roped in an actual driver instead of the model.

Piquet getting featured triggered the statement that the source of attention to women in motorsports is either attractiveness or through their famous partners instead of their own talents as a driver.

Kelly Piquet supports controversial president Jair Bolsonaro

Piquet came under fire on social media in 2022 for supporting Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro during the presidential election. Bolsonaro faced massive criticism during his term for his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Brazillian president, despite the ever-increasing number of deaths in the country, had kept the country running normally. About 680,000 people passed away during the pandemic while Bolsonaro promoted baseless treatments and cures.

During his term, he had been accused of corruption and promoted hate speech as a white supremacist. On top of this, Bolsonaro also played a key role in the deforestation of the Amazon, which had reached a record high.

During the presidential election, Piquet reshared a story on her social media taking a political stance in support of Bolsonaro. The post said that Bolsonaro does not want his country to become like Argentina, Columbia, Venezuela and Nicaragua. Following the post, fans dubbed Kelly a fascist.

Kelly Piquet supports her father’s racial remarks on Lewis Hamilton

Following the criticism sparked by her father Nelson, Kelly too caught the fans’ attention for criticism. Piquet defended her father after the controversy by liking an Instagram post.

The post was shared by Nelson’s relative Rodrigo, who had written that their “second grandmother” referred to the entire family with the N-word. He further said that it is a word of love. Kelly liked the post and sparked controversy.