Kelly Tamsma Piquet Souto Maior, known simply as Kelly Piquet, is a Brazilian Dutch model, fashion influencer, health and wellness coach, social media consultant, and the partner of four-time Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen.
She is one of the most extraordinary figures in Formula 1, carrying a family legacy in the sport that predates her relationship with its current dominant champion by two generations. Her father, Nelson Piquet, won three Formula 1 World Championships in 1981, 1983, and 1987.
Her brother, Nelson Piquet Jr., competed in Formula 1 and won the inaugural Formula E World Championship.
Now her partner, Max Verstappen, is a four-time champion attempting to reclaim his crown. Kelly sits at the intersection of Formula 1’s past, present, and future in a way that no other figure in the paddock can claim.
In May 2025, she and Max welcomed their daughter, Lily, the newest member of a family whose story is one of motorsport’s greatest.
Table of Contents
Kelly Piquet’s Biography
She was born on December 7, 1988, in Homburg, West Germany. Kelly Piquet was born there because her father, Nelson Piquet, was based in Europe during his Formula 1 career.
Her father is Brazilian, and her mother, Sylvia Tamsma, is Dutch, giving Kelly a multicultural heritage that reflects the international life she has always lived.
She is the middle child of Nelson Piquet’s marriage to Sylvia, positioned between her older siblings and her brother, Nelson Piquet Jr.
After her birth in Germany, the family spent several years living in the south of France during the final years of her father’s Formula 1 career before relocating to Brazil when Kelly was approximately 12 years old.
She grew up speaking Portuguese, French, and English fluently, having attended schools in Brazil, France, and England throughout her childhood.
This multilingual upbringing across multiple countries gave Kelly the cultural flexibility and international sophistication that have served her throughout her career in fashion, media, and the global Formula 1 circuit.
She attended Marymount Manhattan College in New York City, where she studied International Relations, earning a degree that reflects a serious intellectual curiosity about global politics and international systems that goes well beyond the fashion and lifestyle content with which she is most publicly associated.
New York provided the professional launching pad for her early modeling career and introduced her to the international fashion world that became her first significant professional domain.
Kelly stands at approximately 5 feet 6 inches tall and has the striking looks and effortless elegance that made her a natural fit for the modeling and fashion industry from the beginning of her professional life.
She is active on Instagram under the handle @kellypiquet, with 1.4 million followers and regularly collaborates with fashion and jewelry brands. She also maintains an LTK platform focused on beauty products.
Her social media content blends personal photographs, paddock life, family moments, and brand collaborations in a way that feels authentic.
Career
Kelly Piquet’s professional career spans three distinct phases that reflect the evolution of an ambitious and multifaceted woman over nearly two decades.
Her first professional chapter was in modeling. She modeled for PatBO and Lucas Boccalão and walked in various fashion shows in Brazil and internationally.
Her Brazilian heritage and international upbringing gave her a distinctive look and cultural versatility that served her well in the fashion industry.
She appeared in campaigns for Vogue, Pepe Jeans, and Louis Vuitton, among other prominent brands, building an impressive modeling résumé before transitioning into the related fields of media and social media management. Her second professional chapter was in motorsport media.
In 2015, she transitioned into racing media by managing social media for Formula E, the all-electric racing series in which her brother, Nelson Piquet Jr., competed and won a championship.
Her work with Formula E gave her professional credibility in the racing world that she earned independently, demonstrating that her presence in motorsport media reflected genuine professional ability.
Her third and current professional chapter is health and wellness coaching. Since moving to Monaco with Max Verstappen, she has established herself as a health and wellness coach, as highlighted on her personal website.
She has completed relevant certifications and built a client practice in Monaco and internationally, adding a meaningful professional identity to her work in media and fashion.
In April 2026, she gave an extended interview to GPFans in which she discussed living in the high-pressure world of Formula 1 with Max, saying:
“It is about feeling comfortable enough to occupy space in my own way, whether through storytelling, my own perspective, or simply by showing that there is not just one way to be in this world.”
The interview presented a thoughtful, grounded, and self-aware woman who is much more than the label of “Formula 1 girlfriend” that the sport’s media habitually applies to the partners of drivers.
Max Verstappen’s Girlfriend
The story of how Kelly Piquet and Max Verstappen came together is inseparable from one of Formula 1’s most dramatic storylines.
The moment Red Bull Racing replaced Daniil Kvyat with an 18-year-old Max Verstappen in May 2016, a decision that not only changed the trajectory of Formula 1 but also, years later, changed Kelly’s personal life. Kelly and Max first crossed paths in 2016 at a Formula 1 event.
At the time, Kelly was in a relationship with Daniil Kvyat, the Russian driver who had been at Red Bull until Verstappen was promoted to take his place.
The two met as members of the broader Formula 1 community without any romantic connection at that point.
In January 2026, Kelly posted about the encounter on social media as part of a viral 2016 trend, sharing a photograph of herself with 19-year-old Verstappen and writing: ‘Met this guy in 2016. The very next day he told me I was the love of his life. Little did I know that 10 years later we would be celebrating five years together and have a perfect baby girl. I absolutely did not have a magical night that night, but there was serendipity in the air.’
Kelly subsequently had a relationship with Daniil Kvyat that lasted from approximately 2017 to 2019. The couple welcomed their daughter, Penelope, in July 2019, one day before Kvyat claimed a podium finish at the German Grand Prix.
They separated in December 2019, and Kelly became a single mother to Penelope. In 2020, following their separation, Kelly and Max began dating.
The timing meant that the man who had replaced Kvyat at Red Bull became the partner of Kvyat’s former girlfriend and the mother of his daughter.
This situation generated enormous media attention and considerable social media commentary.
The couple officially went public in January 2021 when Kelly shared a photograph on Instagram confirming what the Formula 1 world had been speculating about for months.
Their relationship developed warmly and publicly throughout 2021, 2022, and 2023 as Max won his second, third, and fourth World Championship titles.
Kelly was present at virtually every Grand Prix, becoming a constant and increasingly recognisable presence in the Red Bull Racing garage.
She and Max celebrated each championship together, with their connection deepening alongside the extraordinary success Max was achieving on track.
Verstappen developed a notably close relationship with Penelope, Kelly’s daughter with Kvyat, and was regularly photographed with her in the Red Bull garage and at various team events.
Kelly has spoken openly about how kind and caring Max has been as a stepfather figure to Penelope, who was photographed hugging Verstappen after a race at Monza in 2024 in one of the sport’s most heartwarming recent images.
In May 2025, Kelly and Max announced the birth of their daughter, Lily, their first child together. The couple shared the announcement on Instagram, writing: ‘Welcome to the world, sweet Lily. Our hearts are fuller than ever. You are our greatest gift. We love you so much.’
The photographs showed the parents holding their newborn daughter’s tiny hand and cradling her in the hospital.
One month later, Kelly celebrated Max’s first Father’s Day by sharing photographs of him with both Lily and Penelope, captioning them: ‘Happy Father’s Day to the best father I could ask for.’
The family is now based in Monaco, where they live with Lily and Penelope. Max has been explicit about his desire to protect Lily from Formula 1’s constant attention, stating that he wants her to grow up away from the media spotlight and decide for herself whether she wants to live a public life.
The family rarely shares photographs of Lily, and she is seldom seen in the paddock, reflecting the same commitment to privacy that both Max and Kelly have consistently applied to the most personal aspects of their lives.
Questions about marriage have continued to circulate, and Max has previously acknowledged that marriage is a possibility without committing to a timeline.
However, the couple is not married. Still, it remains fully committed, raising two daughters together in Monaco and navigating the extraordinary demands of life at the top of Formula 1 with the kind of mutual respect and genuine partnership that Kelly described in April 2026 as the foundation of their relationship:
‘In environments like Formula 1, where everything is so intense, that kind of balance becomes even more important. It is about understanding each other’s perspectives, but also about helping each other stay grounded.’
Family: The Piquet F1 Dynasty
Kelly Piquet’s family background is one of the most remarkable in the history of Formula 1, spanning three generations of involvement in the sport at the highest level.
Her father, Nelson Piquet Sr. is one of the most gifted and controversial drivers the sport has ever produced. He won three Formula 1 World Championships, claiming his first with Brabham Ford in 1981, his second with Brabham BMW in 1983, and his third with Williams Honda in 1987.
These achievements made him one of only a handful of drivers in history to win three or more World Championships, alongside Juan Manuel Fangio, Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher, and Lewis Hamilton.
He was renowned throughout his career for his exceptional car setup ability, strategic intelligence, and sharp competitive mind, qualities that many observers believe were inherited by his son, Nelson Piquet Jr., and indirectly influenced Kelly’s deep understanding of racing.
Nelson Piquet Sr.’s later years have been significantly overshadowed by a 2022 controversy in which racist and homophobic comments he made about Lewis Hamilton in 2021 became public.
He later issued an apology, but the episode generated widespread condemnation and significantly damaged his legacy.
Kelly did not publicly comment on her father’s remarks, remaining consistent with her broader approach of keeping family matters separate from her public persona.
Kelly’s mother, Sylvia Tamsma, is Dutch and worked as a model before her marriage to Nelson Piquet Sr. Sylvia’s Dutch heritage is reflected in Kelly’s full name, Tamsma, and in the family’s extensive connections to the Netherlands, including Verstappen’s own Dutch nationality.
This interesting coincidence gives their relationship an unexpected cultural connection. Kelly’s brother, Nelson Piquet Jr., born in 1985, followed their father into racing and competed in Formula 1 with Renault in 2008 and 2009 before his career stalled.
He later competed in NASCAR in the United States before winning the inaugural Formula E World Championship in 2015, the same year Kelly was working on Formula E’s social media team, giving the siblings an unusual professional overlap.
Nelson Jr. has also remained active in sim racing and various motorsport ventures since winning the Formula E title.
Kelly also has a half-sister, Juliet Piquet, along with several other half-siblings through her father’s various relationships, reflecting the complex personal life Nelson Piquet Sr. maintained throughout his years in Formula 1.
Kelly Piquet’s Net Worth
Kelly Piquet’s net worth is estimated to be $5 million. Her wealth has been accumulated through her modelling career, her work in Formula E social media, her health and wellness coaching practice, brand partnership income from Instagram and LTK, and various other commercial activities throughout her professional life.
She has never publicly disclosed her financial information, and any specific figure should be treated as an estimate based on her verified professional activities and career history.
Her primary current sources of income include brand partnerships with fashion and jewellery companies through her Instagram account, her health and wellness coaching practice in Monaco, speaking engagements, public appearances, and any residual income that continues to come from her earlier modelling work.
Her relationship with Max Verstappen has significantly increased her commercial profile and brand value, with her Instagram following growing substantially since their relationship became public.
This increased visibility has created commercial opportunities that were not available to her at an earlier stage of her career.
Her partner, Max Verstappen, has an estimated net worth of $200 million, making him one of the highest-earning athletes in Formula 1 history.