Kelly Piquet, who is expecting a child with four-time champion Max Verstappen, brings her own impressive credentials to the world of Formula 1 with a lineage in racing history and a successful career spanning fashion, media, social media, and public relations.
Kelly Piquet: Early life
Piquet was born in Homburg, Germany, to a family already famous in the motorsport arena. Her father is three-time F1 champion Nelson Piquet, and her mother is Dutch model Sylvia Tamsma. She spent her early years growing up in the South of France before she relocated with her family to Brazil when she was 12 years old.
After attending school in Brazil, France, and England, Piquet moved to New York City to enrol in Marymount Manhattan College to major in International Relations with a focus on political science and economics.
Due to her upbringing and school life, Piquet is fluent in multiple languages.
Kelly Piquet: Successful Career
Despite her famous family name, Piquet has made a successful career for herself in her own right. While still at college, the Brazilian began building a career in the fashion industry, which expanded into journalism and public relations.
Over the years, she has held roles such as a stylist assistant at Vogue Latinoamerica and worked in the couture buying office at Bergdorf Goodman. During her time as a model, so far, Piquet has landed work with brands such as Tiffany, Louis Vuitton, Pepe Jeans, and PatBo. She also made the cover of the January 2023 issue of Vogue Netherlands, something she described as her “breakthrough.” She posted at the time:
“Incredibly proud to announce that I am January 2023 Vogue NL Cover Girl.
“To have shot my first ever Vogue cover with @nlvogue, and in my beloved home in Brasilia, mixing my two roots, was an absolute dream come true. I’m still pinching myself.”
In 2014, Piquet held a columnist role at Marie Claire magazine. Following this, she worked as a Social Media and PR Consultant for Formula E Holdings in London in 2015 and 2016.
She has amassed 1.9 million followers on Instagram
Kelly Piquet’s connection to Formula 1
It comes as no surprise that Piquet grew up ingrained in the motorsport world with her father, Nelson Piquet, and her brother, Nelson Piquet Jr., who followed in their father’s footsteps. While speaking to Vogue Netherlands for the cover shoot interview, she commented:
Kelly Piquet
Photo by: Erik Junius
“My earliest memories are of the racetrack, when I first came to Brazil when I was five with my brother Nelson who was eight. He went karting and was immediately obsessed. They are fond memories, the afternoons I spent at the kart track after school, watching him go round and round until the sun went down. I would goof around, play with the mechanics.
“There is a really funny video of me walking down the pit lane with a sandwich in one hand and a drink in the other, with my hair down to my bum. The princess of the track.
“I’ve always been very involved in my brother’s career. I’ve seen the ups and downs, seen what the pressure does to a person. This world is so familiar to me, I know what those guys go through. But I’ve definitely had friends outside of racing! My longest relationship was with someone in finance, so I know there’s more to it than the track.”
Beyond her familial ties to the sport, Piquet was previously in a relationship with former F1 driver Daniil Kvyat. The pair welcomed their daughter Penelope in July 2019 and continue to co-parent together.
Piquet is now in a relationship with Verstappen, which they made public in January 2021. Taking to Instagram in December 2024, the couple announced they were expecting a child together, with the birth anticipated soon.
