Max Verstappen is one of the biggest Formula 1 stars in the world, but off the track, his heart belongs to Kelly Piquet. The duo started dating in 2020 after meeting for the first time four years earlier. While the pair are nine years apart in age, they have plenty in common, racing-wise: they both come from F1 families.
Max is the son of Jos Verstappen, who was an F1 racer from 1994 to 2003. Kelly, meanwhile, is the daughter of Nelson Piquet, a three-time F1 champion from Brazil. Her brother Nelson Piquet Jr. is also a race car driver who formerly competed in F1 and Formula E. Before she began dating Max, Kelly was in a relationship with F1 driver Daniil Kvyat from 2017 to 2019. The former couple welcomed daughter Penelope in July 2019. In December 2022, Kelly told Vogue Netherlands that she “would like to have more children.” Max told Dutch newspaper De Limburger that same month that he “definitely” wants little ones of his own. Keep scrolling for a look at Kelly and Max’s relationship timeline:
June 2022 Seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton called out Kelly’s father after he used a Brazilian Portuguese racial slur to describe Hamilton in an interview. “It’s more than language. These are archaic mindsets [that] need to change and have no place in our sport,” Hamilton tweeted at the time. “I’ve been surrounded by these attitudes and targeted my whole life. There has been plenty of time to learn. Time has come for action.” Nelson Sr. later claimed his comments were taken out of context. “What I said was ill-thought-out, and I make no defense for it, but I will clarify that the term used is one that has widely and historically been used colloquially in Brazilian Portuguese as a synonym for ‘guy’ or ‘person’ and was never intended to offend,” he told CNN in a statement. “I would never use the word I have been accused of in some translations. I strongly condemn any suggestion that the word was used by me with the aim of belittling a driver because of his skin color. I apologize wholeheartedly to anyone that was affected, including Lewis, who is an incredible driver, but the translation in some media that is now circulating on social media is not correct. Discrimination has no place in F1 or society and I am happy to clarify my thoughts in that respect.” Max, for his part, said Nelson Sr. was “definitely not a racist” but condemned his remarks. “I think the wording that was used, even with the different kind of cultures and things they probably said when they were younger, was not correct,” Max told reporters at the time. “Let it be a lesson for the future not to use that word because it’s very offensive, especially nowadays — it gains more traction.” A360
