How Indy 'pulverised' an F1 champion
Nelson Piquet's feet were "pulverised" when he hit the wall during practice for the 1992 Indy 500, effectively ending his career. As Fernando Alonso gears up for his own assault on the Indy crown, Autosport considers a lesson from history...
Even today, 25 years on, Nelson Piquet walks with a pronounced and pained shuffle, the legacy of the enormous crash that brought his top-level racing career to a definitive halt.
He'd been persuaded to enter the 1992 Indianapolis 500 for a substantial fee; the tragic irony is that he fell in love with the challenge of the Brickyard, felt denied by wrecking his Lola-Buick (and his feet) during practice, and longed to have another crack at winning the race. But there would be no fairytale return for the three-time Formula 1 world champion.
Share Or Save This Story
More from Stuart Codling
The rookies looking to make their mark on F1 in 2023
Top 10 F1 Monaco GPs ranked: From Mansell to Moss
GP Racing Podcast: How Alonso's F1 fire still burns within
The mixed fortunes of F1 2021's rookie crop
The joy of the travel and the chase in Formula 1
What to expect from F1's rookie trio in 2021
One-shot qualifying: In defence of F1's flawed TV gamble
The real-life racing rogues stranger than fiction
Latest news
Everything you need to know about the pitwall in F1 - who sits there and what does it do?
Alpine: "Shock" of having slowest F1 car triggered tech revamp
How Bruce McLaren's death shaped more than just his F1 team
Both DS Penske in the points in São Paulo
Autosport Plus
The apprenticeship that will aid Ilott's IndyCar to WEC switch at Jota
The long evolution of Dallara's Indy 500 winner
Nigel Mansell’s greatest F1 and Indycar drives
How Ericsson achieved Indy immortality as Ganassi's main man stumbled
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.