Max Verstappen and Kelly Piquet shocked the world on Friday morning when they announced that they are expecting a child.
The couple have been dating since 2020 and shared the news on Instagram via a tender black and white photo with their hands on Piquet’s stomach.
‘Mini Verstappen-Piquet on the way. We couldn’t be happier with our little miracle,” the couple wrote.
It has been a turbulent week for four-time champion Verstappen after George Russell accused him of being a ‘bully’ on the grid – and threatening him on track.
Kelly is the daughter of F1 legend Nelson Piquet, who won three drivers’ championships himself in the 1980s, although he was also embroiled in a racism scandal with Lewis Hamilton.
With all this in mind, Mail Sport takes you through Kelly’s life, her relationship history (including having a child with a former F1 star) and her family background.
Max Verstappen and his girlfriend Kelly Piquet have announced that they are expecting a child
Mini Verstappen-Piquet on the way. We couldn’t be happier with our little miracle,” they wrote
Who is Kelly Piquet?
Piquet was born in Germany in 1988 to Brazilian F1 legend Nelson and her Dutch model mother Sylvia Tamsma.
She spent most of her early childhood in the south of France, but she also had stints in Brazil and England. Her father was often on the road in the twilight of his F1 career.
She has had a varied career: she has worked as a fashion model, stylist assistant, PR professional, blogger and Marie Claire columnist. The 35-year-old has a degree in international relations.
In 2015, she took a big step outside the fashion world and became social media manager for Formula E, the leading motorsport championship for electric cars. That job kept her incredibly busy.
“I carry three cell phones with me at all times, which have everything related to online content and social media,” she said.
‘Fashion has always been in the background, to tell the truth. Although it encompasses my lifestyle and I receive many invitations, time does not allow me to do so. But I believe this topic is not limited or closed and that it somehow emerges in my work with Formula.”
In 2017, she started dating a former F1 star – who we’ll discuss shortly – and welcomed daughter Penelope in July 2019, although the couple split in December.
Verstappen has taken on fatherhood duties and they are raising Penelope, nicknamed ‘P’, in Monaco. Penelope turned five this summer and loves ballet and going to races with her parents.
Piquet had a varied career as a fashion model, stylist assistant, PR professional, blogger, columnist and social media manager
She spent most of her childhood in the South of France, but is Brazilian and also had stints there and in England
What is her relationship with Verstappen like?
Verstappen and Piquet first met in Monaco in 2016, when he was just 19 and she was 28. They had dinner with her brother, Nelson Piquet Jr, and reflecting on the evening with Vogue Netherlands in December 2022, Kelly said that “something magical was’. happened that night’.
That said, they only got together in 2020 after her relationship with another F1 star.
The pair made their romance public in 2021 when Verstappen shared a photo of them on New Year’s Day. ‘Let’s make 2021 a year to remember in many ways. I wish you all the success, love and happiness just as I found mine,” he wrote.
Verstappen has taken on parenting duties for Penelope and they have both revealed in the past that they are keen to grow their family.
“I am not the father, that is not the goal,” Verstappen said last year. ‘It is always very important that she has a good relationship with her own father, and she does. But I see her every day when I’m home. We get along very well. She’s very cute.’
Penelope might have siblings one day. “Personally, I would like to have more children,” Piquet told Vogue.
Piquet and Verstappen are quite public about their relationship, occasionally posting photos of each other on their respective Instagram accounts.
In October they dressed up for a night out, with Piquet in a red dress and Verstappen in a white shirt and black suit. “Marry the woman Max already,” one fan wrote.
Piquet regularly accompanies Verstappen as he travels the world in Formula 1
She has a daughter named Penelope from a previous relationship with a Formula 1 driver
What is Piquet’s relationship history?
Her very first boyfriend was reportedly Antonio Pedro Marcondes Ferraz, although little is known about him.
They got engaged in 2012, just a year after they got together, but called off the engagement in 2013.
Piquet’s most high-profile relationship was with former AlphaTauri (now RB) driver Daniil Kvyat. He was actually supposed to be Verstappen’s teammate at Toro Rosso, but he was promoted to Red Bull prior to the Dutchman’s debut season.
In 2016, Kvyat was the man who replaced Verstappen at the Spanish Grand Prix for Red Bull – and you know where the on-track story goes from there.
Piquet and Kvyat are said to have met at various F1 events in 2017, the same year they started dating.
They had Penelope in July 2019, but split just five months after that.
‘December 18, 2019 — nothing in your life can go away without a possible replacement. The ending always has a reason,” Piquet said in a cryptic post.
‘If you can’t quite figure out why, that’s okay, time will always bring more answers. Keep moving forward and believe that the best is yet to come.”
She was in a relationship with former AlphaTauri driver Daniil Kvyat – and had Penelope with her
Her father is three-time F1 champion Nelson Piquet (left), who was accused of being racist and homophobic towards Lewis Hamilton
Who is her father?
Kelly’s father is Nelson Piquet, three-time Formula 1 champion in the 1980s.
He won 23 races and is known for his rivalry with English driver Nigel Mansell, who came out on top and limited the Williams star to one championship in 1992.
However, in 2022 he was banned from the F1 paddock and a year later was ordered to pay £780,000 in damages for alleged racist and homophobic comments towards Lewis Hamilton.
A Brazilian court ruled against him after he was filmed on a podcast using an N-word slur against Hamilton – along with a homophobic slur.
Piquet made the comments to the Mercedes driver during an interview in November 2021, when commenting on Hamilton’s British Grand Prix crash with Verstappen. He used the derogatory Portuguese expression ‘neguinho’ while referring to the seven-time world champion.
‘What I said was poorly thought out, and I make no defense of it, but I will clarify that the term used is one that has been widely used colloquially in Brazilian Portuguese as a synonym for ‘man’ or ‘person ‘ and was never intended to offend,’ Piquet said.
‘I would never use the word I am accused of in some translations. I strongly condemn any suggestion that the word has been used by me for the purpose of denigrating a driver because of the color of his skin.
“I sincerely apologize to everyone affected, including Lewis, who is an incredible driver, but the translation in some media now circulating on social media is incorrect.”