Junior to challenge Alonso?

[Valve Bounce]

I remember that's what he said. From what I saw of practice, I would surmise that if the fellow's name was Smith, Jones, or Yamaguchi, he wouldn't even be in F1, let alone brazen enough to have made such a stupid statement at the Renault launch some weeks ago.

[gloomyDAY]

Looks like he's in danger of being left out in the cold after Q1.

Edit: He's out of Q2.

[Ranger]

Qualifies 21st from 22 cars. Disappointing.

[Valve Bounce]

I think the Super Aguris will best avoid coming anywhere near Junior. I would not be surprised if he takes one of them off in the first lap. Flav is not happy

[truefan72]

cna't be happy, oh well, let's see how his race develops

[jens]

Well, rookies have had a difficult start in the past and then become more competitive (like Kovalainen last year), but... come on, that loss is absolutely devastating (1,4 seconds behind Alonso in Q1 - even Alex Yoong could achieve that on his better days :D ).

[PSfan]

Wonder if Renault has gone back to developing the car to suit Alonso again, and thus making it an even more difficult transition for Jr.?

I also recall HK had a shakey start at renault last year, but he's seems upto speed now :p :

would be a shame if Jr. turns out to be a dud considering Renault practically gave up Kovolainen to have Alonso and Nelsinho...

[Valve Bounce]

Don't understand why Flav could possibly believe that Junior would be better than the Fin. To make it worse, Junior is slotted between the two Super Aguri drivers and is positioned to take either one or both of them out.

[aryan]

Wonder if Renault has gone back to developing the car to suit Alonso again, and thus making it an even more difficult transition for Jr.?

I also recall HK had a shakey start at renault last year, but he's seems upto speed now :p :

would be a shame if Jr. turns out to be a dud considering Renault practically gave up Kovolainen to have Alonso and Nelsinho...

They gave up both Kovolainen and Fisico for Jr. A very stupid gamble if you ask me considering Kova's form in the second half of 2007.

[ShiftingGears]

I think its a lot to do with the fact that Flavio doesn't want Alonso challenged by his teammate.

[Ranger]

But no one expected Piquet to be out-qualified by a Super Aguri, regardless of the supposed reasons for him being there.

[F1boat]

Give him some time, people. The kid is not a slow driver, at least wasn't in A1 and GP 2. He was challenging Lewis Hamilton till the end in 2006. Be nice for now. I think that Montoya had an awful debut qualy, too, but made a decent race and an exciting career.
And about Flav being unhappy, I guess that Nelson is feeling like sh*t now. About +1.4 to Alonso, don't forget that Alonso is a double world champion and was able to outqualify a Renault with Minardi (in 2001). He is special.

[Valve Bounce]

Give him some time, people. The kid is not a slow driver, at least wasn't in A1 and GP 2. He was challenging Lewis Hamilton till the end in 2006. Be nice for now. I think that Montoya had an awful debut qualy, too, but made a decent race and an exciting career.
And about Flav being unhappy, I guess that Nelson is feeling like sh*t now. About +1.4 to Alonso, don't forget that Alonso is a double world champion and was able to outqualify a Renault with Minardi (in 2001). He is special.

Why the hell would we want to be nice??
Common Man!! he was out qualified by Sato, and these guys never had the chance to test their cars which are a hybrid of last year's Honda buggerups!! I watched both practice and quals, not much about Junior in practice since he beached it early on, but during quals, he was erratic all over the place.

What I am saying is that he should have respected Fernando and not spouted about how he was going to beat this guy. He has two chances of beating Fernando : Slim and Fat!!

[truefan72]

That's a good point about the car being set up completely for Alonso now

although I don't see the point in that at all. Perhpasd the rule of only allowing two race cars for the weekend means that both are set up for him incase soemthing happens with car 1. But I'm sure that there's got to be some sort of code about not switching cars on race weekend too. I got to investigate.
The monocock is also probably designed for each driver, likely negatying my previous point, so why wouldn't they try to have each car suited to each driver's preference. we are specualting though

The real issue with NPJr here is that he has commented and alluded to his own greatness over the past two years. And now given the opportunity to put his money where his mouth is. he seems to be coming up short.

Even if the team treat him like a stepchild ehile they focus soley on Alonso, coming in between the super Aguri's isn't going to help matters.

I can;t wait to hear Flav's comments

First off they can only bring two cars

[Ranger]

The real issue with NPJr here is that he has commented and alluded to his own greatness over the past two years. And now given the opportunity to put his money where his mouth is. he seems to be coming up short.

That makes his grilling even more intense.

He was often on the Renault pitwall last year shaking his head with Flavio when Kova or Fisi made errors on track. Today I think someone should've returned that favour.

[F1boat]

Why the hell would we want to be nice??
Common Man!! he was out qualified by Sato, and these guys never had the chance to test their cars which are a hybrid of last year's Honda buggerups!! I watched both practice and quals, not much about Junior in practice since he beached it early on, but during quals, he was erratic all over the place.

What I am saying is that he should have respected Fernando and not spouted about how he was going to beat this guy. He has two chances of beating Fernando : Slim and Fat!!

I think that Nelson clearly said in a recent interview that he is there to learn and not to challenge Alonso. Sato bested Alonso himself last year in Canada, so this is how things happened.

[F1boat]

That makes his grilling even more intense.

He was often on the Renault pitwall last year shaking his head with Flavio when Kova or Fisi made errors on track. Today I think someone should've returned that favour.

I believe that Nelson reacted that way to please his boss. What he is supposed to say or do? He might have been sad for the team.

[aryan]

Give him some time, people. The kid is not a slow driver, at least wasn't in A1 and GP 2. He was challenging Lewis Hamilton till the end in 2006. Be nice for now. I think that Montoya had an awful debut qualy, too, but made a decent race and an exciting career.
And about Flav being unhappy, I guess that Nelson is feeling like sh*t now. About +1.4 to Alonso, don't forget that Alonso is a double world champion and was able to outqualify a Renault with Minardi (in 2001). He is special.

Why should we be nice to him? We all know that this kid has had it all. His Dad setup teams for him all the way through GP2 so that he could have the best development programme.

Let's face it, he wouldn't be here if his name was anything else.

He and his lobby pressured Renault so much last year fo him to replace Kova. He's talked endlessly about how great he is and how he is going to challenge Alonso.

I'll give him 6 races to come within 0.5 of Alonso. If he does, he deserves to finish his season, if not, he should be thrown out.

[F1boat]

How could have he said that he would challenge Alonso last year, Alonso was IN A MCLAREN and nobody knew that he will return. His father said that the kid must beat Fernando, but from what I heard the Junior said that he is in the team to learn. I think that Flavio himself does not want Nelson to challenge Fred.
Also, Nelson might have had a good program in development series, but he wasn't slow neither in A1, nor in GP 2.

[Ranger]

I believe that Nelson reacted that way to please his boss. What he is supposed to say or do?
He made himself a very prominent figure in tandem with alluding to his own greatness, as opposed to keeping his head down and saying nothing, which reeks of cockyness IMO.

Now I have nothing wrong with that. But it looks stupid when the goods don't get delivered like today.

He might have been sad for the team.
Pah!

Every mistake of a Renault driver last year boosted Nelson's chance of being a race driver this year. I highly doubt he was or is sad about that.

[Valve Bounce]

I think that Nelson clearly said in a recent interview that he is there to learn and not to challenge Alonso. Sato bested Alonso himself last year in Canada, so this is how things happened.

No!! I would not have started this thread if this were so. Junior clearly stated that his aim was to beat Alonso. Pig's ass!!

[Valve Bounce]

I believe that Nelson reacted that way to please his boss. What he is supposed to say or do? He might have been sad for the team.

No!! he should have kept his mouth shut and head down!!

[Valve Bounce]

I'll give him 6 races to come within 0.5 of Alonso. If he does, he deserves to finish his season, if not, he should be thrown out.

As the DUKE said: " That'll be the day!!"

[Valve Bounce]

How could have he said that he would challenge Alonso last year, Alonso was IN A MCLAREN and nobody knew that he will return. His father said that the kid must beat Fernando, but from what I heard the Junior said that he is in the team to learn. I think that Flavio himself does not want Nelson to challenge Fred.
Also, Nelson might have had a good program in development series, but he wasn't slow neither in A1, nor in GP 2.

You obviously missed the article where Junior stated that his aim was to beat Alonso!! Maybe a little short on history, even if it's only a couple of month's old!!

[FIA]

Button qualified 21st on his debut in a car of the same speed, Kovalainen had the same problems last year, The Ranult is slow, but I think by Spain Piquet will get his place.

[F1boat]

I don't know. For me he is an interesting young driver. Maybe I am biased because my first impression from him was in the inaugural A1 GP race at Brands Hatch and to me he seemed very fast and very cool, so I supported him.
So I am sad to him.
However, if he does not respect his teammate, he will lose my support. From what I have seen, he is not deluding himself or comparing himself with Alonso.

[F1boat]

You obviously missed the article where Junior stated that his aim was to beat Alonso!! Maybe a little short on history, even if it's only a couple of month's old!!

The most recent thing I read, he said that he is to learn. I remember that Big Daddy Boss said that his kid must beat Alonso, not Junior himself.

[Valve Bounce]

The most recent thing I read, he said that he is to learn. I remember that Big Daddy Boss said that his kid must beat Alonso, not Junior himself.

Yeah!! right!!

[harsha]

i had the feeling that he was hampered a bit by the spin of Adrian Sutil....

don't know much about him but he always had the "tag" attached to him even in his GP2 days...didn't seem he was very popular in GP2 too

[F1boat]

OK, I admit that he looked foolish at the race, despite the excellent start, but I hope that he will be better in the next one :)

[Tazio]

Fred drove like a man! NPjr wrong league!

[ShiftingGears]

Fred drove like a man!

Damn right. He was wringing everything out of that car. Great driving.

[F1boat]

Yeah, Alonso was magnifecent today :)

[Ranger]

Piquet was unfortunate to cop the mechanical dudd today.

Alonso was brilliant, kept his head screwed on all race long.

[jens]

1978 - Nelson Piquet Sr in his first GP:
Q - 21st. Retirement from the race on lap 31.

2008 - Nelson Piquet Jr in his first GP:
Q - 21st. Retirement from the race on lap 31.

Nelson Jr is the new triple WDC in the making. :s mokin: :D

[F1boat]

1978 - Nelson Piquet Sr in his first GP:
Q - 21st. Retirement from the race on lap 31.

2008 - Nelson Piquet Jr in his first GP:
Q - 21st. Retirement from the race on lap 31.

Nelson Jr is the new triple WDC in the making. :s mokin: :D

wow, is this true? If so, weird :)

[VkmSpouge]

Nelson Piquet Jr. had a very bad debut. Incredibly poor qualifying and a bad race. He should simply put Melbourne out of his mind and look forward to Sepang. I trust everyone here remembers Heikki Kovalainen had a very bad debut. A driver's first race does not define them.

[jso1985]

1978 - Nelson Piquet Sr in his first GP:
Q - 21st. Retirement from the race on lap 31.

2008 - Nelson Piquet Jr in his first GP:
Q - 21st. Retirement from the race on lap 31.

Nelson Jr is the new triple WDC in the making. :s mokin: :D

:eek:

[BDunnell]

jens, that's a great statistic!

VkmSponge, I agree. :up:

[harsha]

he didn't seem to be that bad in this race.....

[SGWilko]

he didn't seem to be that bad in this race.....

Yeah, he finished this time. Cracking stuff, that?! ;)

[jens]

Nelson did quite well IMO - he finished just 20 seconds behind Alonso, which itself isn't much considering that this was Nelson's second race in F1 and that Alonso is one of the top drivers.

[Robinho]

he did ok today, but his result was lost in amongst everyone else doing ok, or good. i'll be interested to see if he pulls out a few decent drives this year, i for one don't rate him that much, but to be hinest i'm not sure why - it could be that i just don't like him much, again i can't put my finger on why, but something about him grates. might just be that as a kid i was a Mansell fan so always rooted against his dad!

[jso1985]

He certainly did better now but he's still far from doing something that might impress the whole F1 world

[F1boat]

The important thing is that he is improving.

[wmcot]

Too early to tell...he's no LH, though.

[osg]

Junior is not even close to the other 2nd generation drivers (Rosberg or even Nakajima)........... let alone a dual WDC.

[harsha]

Nelsinho's got it against him...racing in f1 in a weak car and when your team mate is a two time WDC is pretty tough..

atleast LH had a decent car