The Standpoint

Piquet confesses partiality in Renault

By

Abhishek Mukherjee

Alonso’s teammate Nelson Piquet Jr. has admitted favouritism in Renault and expressed relief over being dropped from the team for his bad performances. He squarely put the blame on team boss Flavio Briatore, describing him as an executioner.

“I feel a sense of relief for the end of the worst period of my career, and the possibility that I can now move on and put my career back on the right track and try to recover my reputation of a fast, winning driver,” he said in a full statement confirming the cessation of his relationship with the Renault F1 Team.

“The path to F1 was always going to be tricky, and my father and I therefore signed a management contract with Flavio Briatore, who we believed was an excellent option with all the necessary contacts and management skills. Unfortunately, that was when the black period of my career started. As a beginner in F1, I could only expect from my team a lot of support and preparation to help me in getting up to the task. Instead, I was relegated as “someone who drives the other car” with no attention at all,” he said.

The 24-year old, son of triple world champion Nelson Piquet, has been a revelation in motorsports before 2008 – being the South American and British F3 champion, and missing out on a GP2 Championship in 2006 by a whisker. His move to Formula 1 was only last year, with great hopes and anticipation, and he did not disappoint in spite of problems. Piquet finished the season with 19 points and finished once on the podium in second place: the best debut year for a Brazilian driver in F1.

Piquet confessed about how double world Champion Alonso got the best of treatments and lighter cars with softer tyres and how he was treated differently.

“A manager is supposed to encourage you, support you and provide you with opportunities. In my case it was the opposite. Flavio Briatore was my executioner.”

Briatore, however, said that he did not deserve a drive in the Renault F1 car and that the Brazilian would only “open a book of excuses”.

“I expected more from Piquet because this is his second year with a full-time drive. He has done less testing compared to Alonso but Mark Webber has tested less than Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull because of his broken leg - and look where he is now.

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,” he said.

The man said to have developed F1 legend Schumacher as a driver has come in for criticism by people for being a greedy businessman. Piquet described him as someone who knows “s*** about F1”. Time will tell whether other talents also become victims of his selfish attitude.

Frenchman Romain Grosjean is supposed to be his most probable replacement.