02/06/2005
NEWS STORY
Nelson Piquet Jr will be following in the footsteps of his triple-Formula One title-winning father at this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed, on 24, 25 and 26 June, when he drives a 1987 Williams-Honda FW11B, the same car with which Nelson Piquet Senior won his final Formula One World Championship.
The prestigious Goodwood Festival of Speed has achieved worldwide recognition as the biggest motorsport celebration of the year, and attracts a who's who of motorsport royalty from across the ages. Nelson will be in awe-inspiring company as this year's line-up boasts Emerson Fittipaldi, Damon Hill, Sir Jack Brabham and Sir Stirling Moss, as well as some of today's F1 hotshots including Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button and David Coulthard. The Festival is renowned for displaying and demonstrating an awesome array of historical and present day vehicles from the world of motorsport, and this year the event is backed by Honda, which is celebrating 40 years of Grand Prix success.
The 2005 event is themed as 'Racing Colours - National Pride and Culture', and is designed to celebrate the essence of different countries' sporting passions. 19-year-old Nelson embraces much of the well-established passion of motorsport in Brazil, and he will be attending the Festival of Speed to fly the flag for the country that has brought to motorsport true heroes such as Ayrton Senna, Emerson Fittipaldi, Rubens Barrichello and, of course, his father, Nelson Piquet.
Nelson will be driving the Williams-Honda FW11B on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 June.
"I'm really excited about going to such a big event," said Nelson. "I've heard a lot about Goodwood, and how fantastic it is, and I think it's going to be great being a part of the whole thing. I'm really excited about driving the FW11B. It's really special to me to have the opportunity to drive that car. This is the same F1 car that my father won the World Championship with in 1987, when I was only two years old. I've driven current F1 cars with Williams and BAR Honda over the last couple of years, but today's cars are so different to those my father drove. My GP2 car is pretty powerful and has no technical aids, but I'm sure this will be a completely different experience. When you think of how much the cars and technology have changed, and how much power the cars had back then…
"I'm just so excited," he continued. "The great thing about this event is that I'm going to be able to do everything I love - drive a great car, meet really interesting people who have achieved things that I want to achieve, and get to look at a lot of special cars. Driving in front of the British fans for the first time since I won the British F3 title is going to be pretty special too. I live in Britain, so to be able to take part at Goodwood, whilst also representing Brazil, my family, and my heritage, makes me really proud. I think it's going to be a lot of fun!"