05/25/2021 6:00 AM
Clarín.com
sports
Updated 05/25/2021 6:00 AM
Max Verstappen lived an unforgettable weekend in Monaco, where he achieved a victory that allowed him to steal the leadership of the Formula 1 championship from Englishman Lewis Hamilton. The Dutchman, whom many point to as the only one capable of preventing this season from another consecration of the seven-time champion, is enjoying a great moment in his professional career and also in his personal life, as was evident on Sunday on the Monegasque circuit, in the one who celebrated his victory with his girlfriend,
Kelly Piquet
. Yes, Piquet. Does it ring a bell?
Here is a love story at more than 300 kilometers per hour that has as its main flavor the best of the jet set of motorsport.
It is that the Red Bull driver and the daughter of Nelson Piquet, three-time Brazilian world champion, maintain a relationship that began at the end of last year and that became the central axis of a story with romantic overtones, which has the Russian
Daniil Kvyat
as third in contention.
Kelly was Kvyat's partner for several years,
with whom he even has a daughter, Penelope, born in 2019. And the Russian and Verstappen share an important common past within the premier class and were companions - and friends, perhaps - during the first years of his career.
Although today, both on and off the track, their lives are very different.
What does it remind you of?
Piquet congratulates Verstappen after the Dutchman's triumph at the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday.
Photo ANDREJ ISAKOVIC / AFP
Verstappen and Kvyat emerged from Red Bull's driver development program and accompanied each other in their first steps in F1.
The Russian made his debut at the "Great Circus" in 2014 aboard a
Toro Rosso
car
, the second team of the Austrian team, to which he was promoted later in 2015 to replace Sebastian Vettel, who had left for Ferrari.
That same year, the Dutchman got into an F1 for the first time and with Toro Rosso he made his debut in the category, in which he started at a pure record. Because at 17 years and 164 days old, he became the youngest driver in history to start a championship by starting the
Australian Grand Prix
. And on the second date of the season, in Malaysia, he became the earliest to score points by getting sixth place.
Verstappen continued to collect praise during that season and early 2016. Meanwhile, Kvyat did not finish settling in Red Bull and on the fourth date he starred in a controversial incident at the start
of the Russian GP
, which caused the abandonment of Vettel, ruined his career and that of his teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, and cost him his place on the team.
And the Dutchman "stole" his chair.
Max Verstappen and Daniil Kvyat were partners in Red Bull's driver development program.
PhotoTwitter
"Max has shown impressive talent and his performances with Toro Rosso have been excellent, so we are delighted to give him a chance at Red Bull," said
Christian Horner
, Team
Principal
, announcing Red Bull's decision to promote Verstappen and "demote" Kvyat.
The move went well for the energy drink team, because Max won on the following date, in Spain, and set another record.
At 18 years and 228 days, he was the youngest racer to conquer an F1 race.
While his teammate was on the rise, the Russian lost more and more prominence in the top flight and in 2018 he was fired by the Austrian team.
On a personal level, however, his life prospered.
Daniil Kvyat and Kelly Piquet met in 2017 and in 2019 they had a daughter.
Twitter photo
In mid-2017, he began his relationship with Kelly Piquet, six years his senior, model, columnist, blogger and public relations agent.
In 2019, the year the Russian returned to F1 again as a Toro Rosso driver, the couple welcomed their first daughter, Penelope.
But in March 2020, Kelly and Daniil parted ways.
It wasn't long before Piquet made headlines again in the Formula 1 world. Because late last year, she, 32, and Verstappen, 23, made their courtship public through a series of posts on Instagram in which they are seen enjoying a few days off in Brazil.
Also established as one of the great stars of the queen category and the great candidate to steal the throne from Hamilton,
the Dutchman's life seems perfect.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Max Verstappen (@ maxverstappen1)
On the other hand, Kvyat cannot raise his head and after racing for Toro Rosso in the last two seasons without great performances - he only got on a podium in 2019 and was outside the top 10 in the last two championships - this year he lost his place again in the grill.
Today he is working as a reserve and development driver for Alpine, one of the new teams in the category - the former Renault, with Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon as starters - but he is clear about his next big goal.
Kelly Piquet, daughter of the legendary Nelson, practicing for the eRace to Vegas.
"I want to be in Formula 1 next year and I am working for it," said the Russian, the secondary protagonist of a story of love and heartbreak and successes and failures that has given rise to talk in the world of motorsports.