Legends Parade 2026: BRABHAM BT52 (1983)

The BT52 had a radically different front end compared to its predecessor. It resembled an arrow with a delta-shaped front wing. The radiators, the turbocharger housing and the exhaust were positioned further back at the rear. Nelson Piquet went on to win his first Grand Prix in it on no less an occasion than his home race in Brazil. 

Nelson Piquet and Riccardo Patrese, a well-established duo who got on well together. For many fans, the fast but always loyal Patrese remains one of the best number two drivers in history. Piquet won his second of three world championship titles that year (1983). He had previously won the title in 1981 and would do so again in 1987. He is the only Brabham world champion in the era of long-time owner Bernie Ecclestone. 

Jack Brabham (born 1926 in Hurstville, NSW, Australia) had founded the team after winning two world championship titles as a driver for Cooper; with his third world title in 1966, he became the first – and probably the only driver ever – to become world champion in a racing car he had designed himself. To mark the centenary of his birth in April, festivities are being held throughout the year worldwide in honour of Sir Jack, who passed away in 2014 and of the team he built.

A racing car of which there were two different versions in a single season – the BT52 for the first eight races up to Montreal, and the BT52B from the home race at Silverstone onwards. Both cars will be on the starting grid at the Red Bull Legends Parade. The cars were created by the most sought-after designer of the time, the South African Gordon Murray, and were the successors to the BT50, with which Nelson Piquet had managed to win just one race in Montreal in 1982. The budget had been increased because Bernie Ecclestone had sold the team naming rights to an Italian fashion brand. Consequently, the racing team did not formally compete as Team Brabham, but as Fila Sport. 

Bernie Ecclestone. The man who turned Formula 1 into a global sport – and a billion-dollar business. Born 1930 in London as the son of a trawler captain, he became the boss of a ‘piranha tank’, as Formula 1 was known in the 1980s. He showed a flair for business even at primary school: according to legend, he used to get up earlier than his classmates, buy up most of the bread rolls in the area and resell them in the classroom at a hefty mark-up. He tried his hand at racing, but never achieved any great success. It was primarily as an advisor to his friend Jochen Rindt that he became increasingly powerful in the scene, soon becoming the boss of Formula 1 and marketing it worldwide. He was also the owner and team principal of Brabham from 1972 to 1987. Today he lives in Brazil and is also a frequent visitor to Austria. 

The Munich-born ace once carried out test drives for Brabham-BMW, as well as competing in 36 grands prix for Zakspeed, Osella, Arrows and Rial.