Nelson Piquet won his third and final title in 1987.

Nelson Piquet joined the very exclusive club of triple world champions, winning his third and final title after a consistently strong 1987 season.

When the Japanese Grand Prix ended on a mixed note for Nelson Piquet, the Brazilian had already won the championship, not thanks to spectacular speed, but thanks to an unbroken series of points that allowed him to stay ahead of even his teammate Nigel Mansell, who was faster. The 1987 season marked Piquet's third world title, adding to his previous triumphs in 1981 and 1983, and it was also his swan song with the Williams team.

In a year dominated by the British team, the FW11B proved to be a mechanical marvel. Designed by Patrick Head, Sergio Rinland, and Frank Dernie, the car combined a lightweight 540 kg chassis with a Honda V6 turbo engine developing 1,000 hp at 11,000 rpm. The result was a machine that won nine of the fifteen races, accumulated 137 points (61 more than its closest rival), and secured twelve pole positions and seven fastest laps. Piquet and Mansell won seven races between them, but it was the Brazilian's consistency that proved decisive. Out of fifteen starts, Piquet finished on the podium twelve times, won three races, and never finished lower than fourth when the car was running. Only an engine problem in Japan prevented him from scoring points, but he still crossed the finish line despite a compromised car. Mansell, on the other hand, who often set a faster pace, had four retirements, including an accident that left him with a broken vertebra and forced him to miss the season finale. This disparity highlighted a simple truth of the turbo era: reliability could trump pure speed.

The championship ended with Piquet 12 points ahead of the future 1992 champion, a gap built up through consistent points rather than spectacular victories. But the season also sowed the seeds of a growing rift within the Williams garage. Tensions between the two drivers intensified throughout the year, and by August, Piquet had already decided to leave.

His new chapter began at Lotus, where he was recruited to replace his fellow Brazilian Ayrton Senna. This decision led to a promising first season, but the situation quickly deteriorated in 1989, prompting him to join Benetton. There, his initially respectable start was marred by a car that struggled to keep pace, and after a mediocre final year, Piquet retired from Formula 1 in 1991 at the age of 39.

Piquet's legacy lived on beyond his own career. In 2008, his son, Nelson Piquet Jr., attempted to follow in his father's footsteps at Renault, recording 28 Grand Prix starts but never making it onto the podium. The three titles won by Piquet Sr. remain a testament to an era when technical excellence, strategic consistency, and occasional rivalry within the same team could crown a champion.