Well, That's The End Of That Then!

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77393

"Piquet and Briatore in war of words

By Michele Lostia and Pablo Elizalde Tuesday, July 28th 2009, 11:35 GMT

A war of words between Renault boss Flavio Briatore and Nelson Piquet has increased speculation that the Brazilian driver is unlikely to finish the season with the team.

Piquet admitted ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix that his place at the team was in doubt, with rumours having already suggested he could have been absent from the Hungaroring race, where the Brazilian qualified in 15th and finished in 12th.

Speaking to Autosprint magazine, Briatore said he expected more from Piquet and was critical of the driver for "opening the book of excuses" for his lack of results.

"I've always been fair with my drivers," Briatore was quoted as saying by Autosprint. "I expected more from Piquet because this is his second year with a full-time drive. He's done less testing compared to Alonso, but Webber as well tested less than Vettel because of his broken leg, but look where he is now.

"When a driver lacks results, he opens the book of excuses and begins: the fault is the weather's, a spectator's sunglasses, a spin on the straight, this and that...

"It's not true that there's a technical difference of seven tenths between Alonso's and Piquet's car. If that was true, we'd have a car capable of winning the title, and that unfortunately isn't the case. The technical difference has always been minimal and never longer than one race."

Piquet, who is yet to score a point this season, was critical of his team boss, saying he only thinks about money.

The Brazilian driver claimed Briatore, who left Sunday's race before it was over after Fernando Alonso had retired, has no respect for him.

"Flavio is a business man, but he doesn't understand s*** about F1," Piquet was quoted as saying by the Italian magazine. "He's my manager, but in his role of team boss he doesn't respect me.

"He only thinks about money, at how much money he can pocket in everything he's involved, he's a man with no friends. Every day everyone asks me what's going on, so why should I always keep quiet?

"Webber has been in F1 since 2001, he started in a different era, when testing wasn't limited. He's probably done more than 20,000 kms in testing, so it's not a fair comparison. Now the situation is more difficult for a driver with little experience.

"And besides that, I have to fight against Briatore and Alonso himself, who is a fantastic driver. When I wasn't competitive in qualifying, I was the first owing up to it. But if Briatore doesn't understand that, what can I do?"

[Valve Bounce]

Looks like Flav is going to lend Piquet to Ferrari, No??

[ioan]

"I've always been fair with my drivers,"

Good joke! :rolleyes:




"When a driver lacks results, he opens the book of excuses and begins: the fault is the weather's, a spectator's sunglasses, a spin on the straight, this and that...


Or a lighting pod did fall on the front of the car during the night and in the same night, somehow the engineers had a memory loss and forgot the right settings! Or at least this is how Alonso's book of excuses looked after BahrainGP (I think) in 2007.

Or becaus eth etrack was wet he managed to spin while Piquet didn't 2 weeks ago?! :rolleyes:

Let's face it, all drivers find excuses when needed, it's not only one of them.

I'm glad that Piquet spoke his mind now that he is out.
It was obvious that he was treated like dirt by Renault while Alonso was treated like a king, no matter the results.

[Sonic]

Its about time those two fell out. :p

[ArrowsFA1]

Good joke! :rolleyes:
Made me chuckle a bit that did.

[ioan]

Made me chuckle a bit that did.

Comparing Piquet Jr. and Mark Webber's experience was also more than a bit funny. It really supports Piquet's claim that Flav doesn't understand F1 to well.

[race_director]

I thought the way flavio left, looked as if he fired some guys in pits for the tyre falling apart.


and Pique said well about him

[christophulus]

Piquet hasn't been good enough but Flavio is just showing what a complete tool he can be. Grosjean/Di Grassi is going to struggle alongside Alonso and could be a team leader next year. I'd like to see how patient he'll be with them..

[Sonic]

Piquet hasn't been good enough but Flavio is just showing what a complete tool he can be. Grosjean/Di Grassi is going to struggle alongside Alonso and could be a team leader next year. I'd like to see how patient he'll be with them..

He won't be patient at all. But then you reap what you sow. He built a team around MS before and when he left he'd put so many noses out of joint it was only a couple more years and flav was out the door too. History seems to be repeating itself; although I do agree with him in general about Piquet's on track results and the need for fresh blood, he's going about it all wrong.

[555-04Q2]

Looks like Flav is going to lend Piquet to Ferrari, No??


No thanks :down: Flavour can keep him to wash the F1 cars after each race ;)

[Hondo]

Maybe Flav and Renault are planning on not needing any drivers next year anyway.

[Dave B]

Grosjean in at Valencia, according to the rumours. Nothing new there, then.

[HenryM]

Piquet Jr posted in his twitter today:
"Fiquem ligados nas noticias sobre F1. Muita coisa vai acontecer. Muita coisa um tanto... Nova!"

"stay tuned in the news about the f1. a lot of things will happen. a lot of things a bit... new(nova)"

and the rumor is, a piquet + supernova team in f1!?

[woody2goody]

Interesting from Piquet's Twitter.

F1 needs another team if that's what he's talking about.

If not, he's probably gone and signed a contract either with another team or as Ferrari's test driver or something like that.

[markabilly]

My understanding is the offficial word is that NP will not drive for renault at valencia......

[harsha]

if there was any chance of him still making the grid for valencia...it would be 0 after this outburst...

don't think he could handle the big league,not defending Sleazy but not even an inch of improvement..

[leopard]

I see NPjr has been trying all his effort at its best, driving F1 and score points is just not easy, besides points system which only give points for top eight finisher, and performance of of the car which is not yet significantly increased since the opening of this season commenced.

His statement that his team manager know nothing about F1 and doesn't give him respect is anyhow unjustifiable. He should keep the spirit of being self motivated to score points for team regardless of the fact he feels being shoved around... It might be his own way interpreting pressures that he has scored nothing.

Both renault drivers will not drive at Valencia for wheel flying off sanction at Budapest, will they?..

[electron]

Piquet showed in GP2 what he is capable of.

he is suffering the same way a lot of Schus ex Teammated did. he comes to a team as a rookie taht is building all around Nr1 man Alonso.
He may be asked for his opinion carwise but you can rest assured the car will no be built to his taste.
"do you like the new parts?"
"well yeah but I still can get enough grip on the back"
"okay, Alosno said he is fine with this and asks for lower drag, so we don't look into it, sorry..."

If he can't set the beast up so it fits to him he is toast (he is actually). The Renault is a beast, as even Alonso is sliding, going sideways, underperforming. And in thes situation there comes a test ban... go figure.
No way a driver is going to improve if the car doesn't fit.
Obviously Red Bull took better care to compare the drivers driving style and needs so one car is good for both. As in the Renault case (or in earlier yeras in Ferraris case) the car fits only one driver and is custom tailored even further.

[race_director]

anyway good that he is gone .


I did not like him seeing him
hang out with his wang out in the paddock

[Dave B]

I did not like him seeing him
hang out with his wang out in the paddock
I must have missed that! :eek:

[leopard]

I must have missed that! :eek:

that's sweet. :)

[Sonic]

I see NPjr has been trying all his effort at its best, driving F1 and score points is just not easy, besides points system which only give points for top eight finisher, and performance of of the car which is not yet significantly increased since the opening of this season commenced.

The cars not improved??? I may have been watching the wrong race but didn't Alonso stick the Renault on pole in the last GP? Its still clearly a handful of a car but the difference is now that the modifications have moved the car to top 8 - Alonso is doing the rest. A sniff of a podium and he's finding more from within himself, whereas Piquet doesn't.

Also unlike MS early team mates NPjr has been given a good crack of the whip. Test driver for a year and race driver for 20 months, whereas people like Herbert (a year) and Jos (3/4 of a season) got much less chance.

Good luck to the lad if he has managed to land a driver with a lesser team - but he can't cut it at the top.

[ioan]

I may have been watching the wrong race but didn't Alonso stick the Renault on pole in the last GP?

With 10 laps of fuel on board while others went 20-25! :laugh:
On a similar fuel load he would have been 10th at best even with Felipe injured! :rotflmao:

[Dave B]

The cars not improved??? I may have been watching the wrong race but didn't Alonso stick the Renault on pole in the last GP?
He was P7 fuel-corrected, so while the car may well have improved you can't judge it by an artificial pole.

[leopard]

The cars not improved??? I may have been watching the wrong race but didn't Alonso stick the Renault on pole in the last GP? Its still clearly a handful of a car but the difference is now that the modifications have moved the car to top 8 - Alonso is doing the rest. A sniff of a podium and he's finding more from within himself, whereas Piquet doesn't.


The last GP wasn't the first Alonso performs like outpacing the car's performance during qualifying. GP China was like telling us about Renault revival. I'd rather consider it as Alonso with consent of team tries to implement a bit of extreme strategy to take the qualifying with less fuel.

GP Hungary that strategy could work out if he wasn't forced to be out of track by the wheel incident, considering it was another variant of GP Monaco where overtaking is difficult. Logically if he can set pole position, it will give more probability to win or at least finish for podium.

How clever strategy team and Alonso were trying to apply to the above race, performance of the car will much determine the result that he had to finish at nine in China.

While Alonso looks like driving with improvement, NPjr drives not more like control who drives with conservative strategy to measure how good the first strategy work out. So the result just average.

[leopard]

With 10 laps of fuel on board while others went 20-25! :laugh:
On a similar fuel load he would have been 10th at best even with Felipe injured! :rotflmao:
:)

[christophulus]

Grosjean has been straight-line testing the Renault, in case there were any doubts over who would turn up at Spa (or maybe Valencia..)

http://www.f1way.com/news/2009/July/30/grosjean-tests-renault-on-uk-runway

[Sonic]

He was P7 fuel-corrected, so while the car may well have improved you can't judge it by an artificial pole.

I am aware of that, however the 3 stopper was quoted as being faster over the race distance than the 2 stopper most others went with. Had he made it to the flag I guess he would've made top 5 - we'll never know for sure though.

And at this point I'm going to shut up.....why the hell am I defending Alonso?!?!?!

[leopard]

He was P7 fuel-corrected, so while the car may well have improved you can't judge it by an artificial pole.
Pole setter is a signature signifying either improved car, and clever strategy and driver.
In normal condition whether the car carried less load or not it will be beneficial for drivers as they can pull away faster than group of drivers behind which are battling to emerge at the first corner.

The pole setter would normally takes the lead and create gaps before entering pit, unless if the signature is transformed improperly make a bad start and let drivers behind takeover the lead.

[truefan72]

Grosjean has been straight-line testing the Renault, in case there were any doubts over who would turn up at Spa (or maybe Valencia..)

http://www.f1way.com/news/2009/July/30/grosjean-tests-renault-on-uk-runway

hmm, I have grown less confident in Grosjean as the GP2 season progresses and feel he might be less competent than Renault's stock in his abilities.

You would expect him to be lighting the world on fire but he is far from it at this point. If I think of the former Gp2 guys in F1 now, I think that Grosjean would be coming into F1 as the least accomplished of the lot in terms of results.

[BDunnell]

Will anyone really miss Piquet? Thought not. Next...

(Not that I think his replacement will set the world on fire, though I would be pleased to be proved wrong.)

[gloomyDAY]

Will anyone really miss Piquet? Thought not. Next...

(Not that I think his replacement will set the world on fire, though I would be pleased to be proved wrong.)I think Arrows and I were really looking forward to Jr. kicking some Asturian butt. Problem is that Flavio never allowed that to happen and as a result Jr. never got comfortable with his car. I know that Nelson has a lot of talent and his GP2 races showed a racer full of potential.

Hate to say that Ron Dennis could have been right about Renault taking a dump on their #2 drivers and breaking them down to bits. Nelson has to look for a different team and hopefully proves himself in F1.

[ioan]

Will anyone really miss Piquet? Thought not. Next...

I will. He showed he's got balls and made some brave moves. many other drivers on the grid never showed half of that.

[Saint Devote]

Electron makes a valid point.

The number two Renault and Mclaren seats are as toxic for a driver today as the number two seat was at the great Lotus team.

It is inevitable that a team concentrates on drivers that have huge potential.

It will nevertheless be interesting if Kubica or Rosberg move to Mclaren for 2010.

I agree with Hans Stuck that Mclaren should release Kovaleinen and install Kubica beginning in Valencia 2009.

That Piquet is gone is a pity on the one hand because he was one of the most fan friendly drivers, communicating with comments and pictures via Twitter.

Hamilton is also one of the drivers that is nicest to his fans. This is a big positive for Lewis - I am not a supporter of Hamilton.

[Saint Devote]

If Piquet can get another chance then Bourdais ought to as well.

But neither should be placed in 2010 above a driver such as Nico Hulkenberg.

[ClarkFan]

Looks like Flav is going to lend Piquet to Ferrari, No??
No, Daimler. He is going to throw Piquet in front of one of their trucks!

:p

ClarkFan

[truefan72]

I think Arrows and I were really looking forward to Jr. kicking some Asturian butt. Problem is that Flavio never allowed that to happen and as a result Jr. never got comfortable with his car. I know that Nelson has a lot of talent and his GP2 races showed a racer full of potential.

Hate to say that Ron Dennis could have been right about Renault taking a dump on their #2 drivers and breaking them down to bits. Nelson has to look for a different team and hopefully proves himself in F1.

I somewhat agree...to a point. Despite all of that, he was still erratic on the track and was guaranteed to have a moment in practice, qualiy or the race every weekend. Whether that comes down to nerves, pressure or ability is anybody's guess. Alls I know is that he could have done slightly better.

that being said, I'm willing to give him another shot outside of the Renault/Briatore situation and judge him then.

[truefan72]

Electron makes a valid point.

The number two Renault and Mclaren seats are as toxic for a driver today as the number two seat was at the great Lotus team.

It is inevitable that a team concentrates on drivers that have huge potential.

It will nevertheless be interesting if Kubica or Rosberg move to Mclaren for 2010.

I agree with Hans Stuck that Mclaren should release Kovaleinen and install Kubica beginning in Valencia 2009.

That Piquet is gone is a pity on the one hand because he was one of the most fan friendly drivers, communicating with comments and pictures via Twitter.

Hamilton is also one of the drivers that is nicest to his fans. This is a big positive for Lewis - I am not a supporter of Hamilton.

funny how you would mention mclaren who have had a history of equal driver treatment (98% of the time) and not mention Ferrari who took that #1 driver thing to new heights.

At least in Mclaren, Kovy got to win a race and although not getting the preferential treatment at the moment, still is treated with respect and allowed to compete.

Look at the Mclaren situation and compare that to Brawn GP who cleary disenfranchise rubens costing him 2 race wins, or Renault who don't give a sh!te about Piquet, and it is almost a disservice to mention mac's in the same league. Even in the Hakkinen days, DC was still winning races. Alonso and Hamilton were treated as equals, Kimi and Montoya were treated as equals. The #2 at Mclaren is far from toxic, so please state to me how you came about that conclusion

[ioan]

funny how you would mention mclaren who have had a history of equal driver treatment ...

Yeah, right! :rotflmao:

Maybe when Bruce McLaren was around. :rolleyes:

[Sleeper]

With 10 laps of fuel on board while others went 20-25! :laugh:
On a similar fuel load he would have been 10th at best even with Felipe injured! :rotflmao:
He was still aiming for a top 5 finish using a 3 stop strategy and clean air. His pace suggested that he might have been able to do it as well, and thats definitely a big improvment on where Renault were 4 races ago, which was outside the top 10.

Cant say that I'm sorry to see Piquet go. You dont expect to see much from rookies at the start, but after a year and a half I would expect big improvment and there hasnt been any.