When Kelly Piquet's father got involved in a brawl with a fellow driver after crashing out of a race

The 1982 German Grand Prix saw one of the most brutal driver scuffles in F1 history. It was the race where Nelson Piquet, the father of Max Verstappen's partner Kelly Piquet, reportedly punched and kicked Eliseo Salazar following their on-track incident.

The Formula 1 fraternity has witnessed multiple scuffles between drivers, including one where the backmarker took the race leader out - the Verstappen versus Esteban Ocon incident in the 2018 Brazilian Grand Prix. However, the physical altercation between Piquet and Salazar remains one of the most recognized ones.

After qualifying in P4 on Saturday, Piquet started his race behind Didier Pironi, Alain Prost, and Rene Arnoux. However, he managed to improve his position and was in the lead of the race. As he began to pull away, he started lapping the backmarkers where he met Salazar.

Salazar, who was racing with ATS back then, started his race from 22nd position. Failing to move further up, he came under the clutches of Piquet and was lapped in Lap 18 (Salazar's 17). As Piquet lapped him around the chicane at Hockenheim and pulled out the smooth move, it did not stay that way for long.

After lapping Salazar, Piquet slowed down and turned left, but the former was seemingly not in the mood to budge and rammed directly against Piquet's white Brabham. This immediately took both of them out of the race. While it did not hurt the Chilean driver much, as a race leader, Nelson Piquet's loss was orders of magnitude higher.

As both cars crashed, Salazar came out of the car and started walking away but Piquet was seemingly intent on voicing his displeasure. He turned to the former and walked straight towards him for a confrontation. However, there was no verbal exchange. Instead, the Brazilian former driver landed punches and threw kicks at Eliseo Salazar.

Patrick Tambay claimed the German GP victory after Piquet's DNF. Arnoux and Keke Rosberg rounded off the podium places. The aforementioned physical altercation triggered disciplinary action from the FIA against Piquet.

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Nelson Piquet once mentored Eliseo Salazar

Nelson Piquet #20 of Brazil and Benetton-Ford in the 1991 United States F1 Grand Prix. Credit: Getty Images

While it may sound shocking, it is true. Nelson Piquet was once a mentor for the Chilean former F1 driver Eliseo Salazar long before the duo clashed at Hockenheim during the 1982 German GP. As per F1.com, it was Piquet who helped Salazar climb the racing ladder in the late 1970s.

But deep into the Hockenheim race, Piquet was not in the mood to be friendly with Salazar. As he confronted and hit Salazar, the latter did not fight back and tried to walk away. The Chilean driver had to leave the sport after Chile faced an economic crisis in the early 1980s.

Nelson Piquet continued racing long after Salazar's retirement and raced his last in the 1991 Australian Grand Prix. Over the course of his F1 career, Piquet raked in three F1 championships, 23 Grand Prix wins, and 60 podiums.