Piquet, who won the Drivers' Championship in 1981, '83 and '87, believes Schumacher is the best F1 driver of his generation, is better than Ayrton Senna, and could well be the best driver Formula One will ever have.
The reason Piquet rates the German above the late Senna is because Schumacher was willing to move from Benetton, with whom he won two titles, to Ferrari, who had not won the Drivers' title since Jody Scheckter in 1979. It was a move that Piquet says took 'courage' and one that worked out in Schumacher's favour.
"Michael Schumacher is the best by far right now and can be the best ever, if he is not already," Piquet told the Daily Express newspaper.
"If you take all the electronics off the car, Schumacher will be much better than most drivers, much better than Rubens Barrichello, much better in the same Ferrari."
"Schumacher can be the best ever. He did something that many good drivers did not do by moving teams to make another better. He had the courage to go for a team that was not strong. Ferrari had not won the championship for 21 years."
"Senna always wanted to go for the best team. It was the same when he went from McLaren to Williams. For me this makes Schumacher much better than Senna, and I say this as a Brazilian."