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Max Verstappen has been unwittingly pulled into controversy after three-time F1 world champion Nelson Piquet recently came under fire over his racist comments about Lewis Hamilton made in an interview last November. The Brazilian was speaking about Hamilton's incident with reigning world champion Verstappen at the 2021 British Grand Prix.
Piquet also happens to be the father of Verstappen's girlfriend, Kelly Piquet. The two have reportedly been together since 2020 when they officially revealed their relationship after the 33-year-old Brazilian model broke up with former Red Bull driver Daniil Kvyat the year before. She also has a young daughter with Kvyat named Penelope, with whom Verstappen is seen in several social media posts.
Born and brought up in Europe, Kelly reportedly studied International Relations at Marymount Manhattan College in New York City, and now endorses brands such as Louis Vuitton on Instagram as a model. The Brazilian, who is a decade older than Max Verstappen, is often seen supporting her boyfriend at several Grand Prix weekends.
Max Verstappen was "invincible" in Canada, says former F1 driver
Former Haas driver Romain Grosjean described Max Verstappen as "invincible" at the 2022 F1 Canadian Grand Prix, where the Dutchman secured his sixth race win of the season.
Describing his impressive performance under the tough conditions in Montréal, Grosjean said:
“Max [Verstappen] was invincible this weekend. Max avoided the rain, the problems, the mistakes, the Safety Car. He had the race under control. He was very impressive over the last 10 laps with Carlos Sainz behind, because the DRS [Drag Reduction System] is so powerful in Canada. He couldn’t pull away, but he did an amazing job. Those last few laps were very impressive – no mistakes made, absolutely pushing the car to the limit lap after lap, so that was beautiful to see. And I must say, it was perfect.”
“On the contrary, [Sergio] Perez – for the Drivers’ Championship – had a bit of a difficult weekend. Not fast [on] Friday, not fast in the wet, crashed in qualifying. I suspect the gearbox issue in the race is related to qualifying, because the nose of the Red Bull was stuck on that barrier, and when he pulled reverse and dropped the clutch, that must have put some high torque under the gearbox in reverse. Gearboxes in Formula 1 do have to have a reverse – that’s the regulation – but as much as you can avoid using it, avoid it. It’s really not made to be going rearwards.”
Max Verstappen currently leads the drivers' championship standings while his teammate Sergio Perez remains second.
