Nelsinho Piquet

[teabagyokel]

I was just wondering about people's opinions on the man in the No. 6 car...

Is Piquet fatally out of depth in Formula 1? Is he in there as a sitting duck for Alonso to feel comfortable with, rather than risk the "I thought I was No.1" tantrums of last year?* Are Renault going to put up with his level of performance at a home Grand Prix?

Alonso rant

*Fernando, you're the no. 1 driver if you consistently beat the No. 2 driver in your team..., calm down mate... if you hadn't pulled that stunt in qualifying in Hungary last year, you would be champion still, even if you had finished second! Prove yourself instead of whining!

 

[Ninad13]

I think he should be given this entire season. At the moment he is under lot of pressure, so he should be given a good chance after all his car is not that good.

If he cannot prove himself by the end of season then remove him..........

 

[Guest]

The guy has talent no doubt about it, Its just a matter of time until he gets things going. Hopefully he will be in the points this weekend.

 

[Andrea_Moda_Rules]

I agree with Niinad,
adding to what he said, There is no doubt that Alsonso is one of the fastes guys in F1, even if he does crck under pressure a little (understatemnt lol)
so if your not quite upto scratch then a renault he is going to be found out,

Also if you look at Alonso's teammates perfomances whilst Alonso was at Renault, Trulli sucked after he fell out of favor with Flavio, and also Fiscichella was suprisingly slow at renault too which leads me to think that perhaps that the second driver is not geting the support they should and Piquet Jr perhaps is being left out in the cold a little whicj for a driver in his frist season is catastophic. Also I think Piquet was overratted coming into F1, he hasnt won any major junior series on his path to f1

 

[bogaTYR]

whats happening to piquet is downright horrible and to me, the biggest madness in f1 this season so far. it seems nowadays a rookie has to perform and preferably win races and lead the WDC table in his first 10 races or get out of f1. also, rookie mistakes in a mclaren seem to be much quicker forgiven and forgotten then a rookie mistake in another car.

when people say a driver does not perform, what does that mean? obviously its a comparison, but a comparison to what? sutil, vettel and bourdais have almost the same record this year as piquet has. so there are more drivers having problems. also, there is only 1 driver right now with a 100% arrival rate (heidfeld), all others had DNF's. the only point i see you can use to point at nelsinho are his results compared to nando. but we can we really compare a two times WDC with a point to make to a rookie? also, this rookie does not have the best car in the field like some other rookie did.

and finally, what happened to allowing a rookie to learn and grow? when i read remarks like 'one year and then he should go' or 'he needs to show something or go'. then i feel more and more LH last year did a whopping great big disservice to this sport.

 

[teabagyokel]

I see your point boga, but we aren't comparing the guy with Hamilton...

Piquet may have a similar record to Vettel, Sutil, Bourdais etc., but these drivers are in Force Indias and Toro Rossos, cars vastly inferior to the Renault plus Vettel and Bourdais have come in the points so far this season, ditto Nakajima at Williams, whilst Sutil would have come 4th at Monaco had Raikkonen not rammed him...

If we have to compare Piquet to someone, it has to be Kova, who was in the same car as him last year. Although Kova was against Fisichella not Alonso, the fact remains that by the end of race 7 last year (the US Grand Prix), Kova had 12 points whilst Piquet has none at the same stage this year.

Although Nakajima, Vettel & Bourdais aren't leading the WDC, no-one is putting pressure on them!

 

[bogaTYR]

i myself don't see the honda as 'vastly superior' to force india and certainly not torro rosso. the whole field at times is within 1-2 seconds.

plus kova had only 1 DNF last year (in the last race) while piquet right now already 5 DNF, so this comparison doesn't work either.

can you see why i am lost? its exactly like you said, there seems to be only pressure on piquet. and it just bothers me.

 

[Galahad]

I think we can't separate the discussion from the context in which the Renault team find themselves. Based on performance in recent seasons and reputation, they're one of the big four teams along with Ferrari, McLaren and BMW. So the expectations on them are higher, the public scrutiny is greater and the pressure is more. It is obvious that Piquet is under more pressure than he would have been if he'd been driving a Toro Rosso or Force India in his first season.

Then we have the uncertainty over Renault's future involvement in F1. After the disaster in Canada, they're fast sliding down the constructors' standings. Although Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn has been making positive noises recently, Renault is not a company that can afford a blank chequebook approach to motorsport. When they were winning their titles, their marketing budget was more than making it worthwhile. If the cars are running in the midfield, with less airtime on TV and fewer mentions in the press, that calculation changes a lot.

Honestly, if I was Flavio I would have a serious look at the other drivers on the market. Renault need every point they can get, and for my money there are other drivers out there who could do a better job than Nelsinho. Maybe he will be a decent F1 driver in two or three years, but I don't see that Renault can afford to give him that time right now. Perhaps another team will.

Having said all that, I would wait at least for the next three GPs (tracks Nelsinho is very familiar with) before making a decision. But I don't think Renault can really afford to be beaten by Red Bull and Williams this season. That, I suspect, would make the Renault top brass start investigating their options.

 

[bogaTYR]

i don't see where you get the ttile 'big 4 teams' from. cos in my kind there is one team ahead (kinda, more or less) which is ferrari and then there is a group of teams: McLaren, BMW. Honda. Williams and maybe Red Bull, Toyota and Honda. And these teams are moving closer together all the time.

Ah yes, I forgot this thing with the future of Renault. You're right there. The list of teams with 'issues' is getting bigger all the time.

 

[Galahad]

Hmm, well in terms of big teams I'm talking about teams who are winning races or have been in a position to win races in recent years.

In the 1990s the big four were well established as Williams, McLaren, Ferrari and Benetton. Since then Benetton has become Renault and BMW have usurped Williams, but essentially it's the same grouping. Drivers who want to win races will be aiming for those teams, since they're the ones who've been doing it.

Performance varies from race to race of course, but I'm talking about a global perspective. How many articles do the news media run about Red Bull compared to Renault? Renault are a bigger team by reputation and history.

 

[teabagyokel]

It is still a fact, boga, that some of Piquet's DNF's were self-inflicted...

Renault are a big 4 team, but there's only one car that looks likely to get on the front 4 rows of the grid... and that's in the hands of a driver who's likely to get frustrated if not winning the race...

 

[bogaTYR]

ah yes, of course... the only teams who won races in the 10 years before kunica are mclaren, renault and ferrari. the last 'outsider' was won a race was indeed williams. so maybe the big three is better hence my confusion.

but have you known a year when the teams were so close? i try hard to remember. i do remember years with much bigger differences but this year seems a bit closer then before.

 

[Galahad]

It's a good point - from the front to the back of the grid is very close indeed now.

Whether the teams generally are more competitive is hard to say - in the past there were always a couple of hopeless teams at the back like Minardi who were well away from the rest.

The one thing I would say though, is that in the past you had different cars quick on different circuits - in the early 80s you didn't know if Renault, Brabham, McLaren, Williams, Ferrari would be the car to beat on any given weekend. These days the competitive order of the teams seems to be much more stable, if someone qualifies 8th instead of 10th they call it a good performance.

 

[teabagyokel]

HUMBLE PIE TO TABLE 12

Mmmm...

Well, after the German GP, I'd say... results HAVE improved!

 

[teabagyokel]

I thought I'd re-open the poll on the guy based on how useless he has been at the start of this year. However, the poll is simpler now! Is he good enough for a drive or has his only positive contribution to Renault been the spin in Singapore that brought out the Safety Car that won 'Nando the race? I wish I didn't have to ask, but I feel someone else deserves a shot at F1 rather than letting Piquet take up the no. 8 seat for any longer

 

[Andrea_Moda_Rules]

BALLS! i've f*****d up the vote! It meant to say YES. and with this point.
He improved towards the end of last season and showed some promise, and After reading an Article from Gary Anderson (ex Jordan designer) has lead me to believe that the 08 car favored an expeirenced driver, complicated stuff todo with the nose and how the air-flows through a corner i.e the air not running staright at the front of the car. He's had a poor start to 09 too but!....Its only been 3 races If it were lets say 16/17 of the others drivers then they woudln't of been slauterd like He has been in the press. So for now i would say yes with a warning 'you must imporve if you want to stay for 2010'