Nelson Piquet junior

[vyselegend]

I wish to react (a bit late) to the recent declarations aimed at Nelson Piquet junior, considering his (lack of) results in the early season. Sure he didn't meet expectations from a Renault team seeking a return in the top three, but one would easily argue that the R28 didn't either.

Actually Piquet is "doing a Kovalainen" for the moment, struggling a bit for his debut and showing a sure but slow progression curve. Weather he'll do as well as the Finn later on is yet to be seen, but the fact that Renault itself is openly criticizing him makes me wonder if they haven't already defined the limits of his skills, and are disapointed with him. You might answear that Kovy was heavily criticized as well, but IMO things are very different since relative expectations are a world appart: Kovy was taking over Fernando, in the current champion team, while the brazilian benefits from the indulgency of a more humble crew, hence why critics awaited for the fourth GP instead of the immediate fire Heikki had suffered from.

Formula one's a harsh world, nowadays a youngster isn't really allowed more than one or two failed GP under the excuse of learning. Is F1 judging drivers too quickly? I have the impression that a few year back a young gun had a season (at least) to prove himself. Now drivers are sacked during the season, without necessarly having messed up their results, but just failing to meet (too ambitious?) expectations. Scott Speed comes to mind, as well as Klien, liuzzi, Monteiro, Montagny, Kartikheyan, Dornboos, Ide...

Another thing I'd say in defence of Piquet is about the amount of running a newbie is allowed to do before his debut, considering the recent testing restrictions. I don't have the numbers here, but I remember reading that Nelsiño have covered about half the Kilometers Heikki had done in testing, while the Finn already had a serious deficit compared to his predecessors, due to the rules discouraging teams to give third drivers some mileage as both off-GP testing and friday testing are limited. I think the figure for Kovalainen was something like 18 000 km covered in 2006. Not sure though. It would be interesting if a member could show up some statistics (Ciro?) to compare the mileage young drivers had under the belt for their debut in the last few years.

Now, having denfended Piquet, I must say my personal feeling toward him isn't that bright. I can't help thinking his second driver position is the result of a decision taken in late 2006. I think Renault's management had a clear view of the future: Fernie was out for good and would never come back (or so they thought logically), so the equation was computing the known value "Fisi" with the unknows Kovy and Nelson. The obvious way it went is that Heikki & Fisico had a "confrontation" year, the looser giving his seat to Piquet.

What I mean is that under those circumstances they gave a racing contract for 2008 to Piquet as early as 2006, because whatever the result, he would fill the seat of the looser anyway. (of course I've no proof of this, it's an hypothesis). That's my point, they never thought Fernando might be back, and when it occured that he was returning, they were forced into a corner by the Piquet contract, so they had to choose him over Kovalainen to avoid loosing even more money in another contract disruption. There was also a gamble, maybe he will perform as well as the Finn, and he represent a better PR value, with the Piquet name and the brazilian nationality (very coveted market for Renault). But I'm sure if it hadn't been for this contract, they would have kept Kovalainen, because he proved to be very good, while Nelson was relatively slower in testing.

What's your view?

PS: related news:
Did Renault make the wrong decision?
Sato to participate in shoot out test for Renault?

[Belatti]

No way to compare Heikki with Nelsinho!
Piquet is NOT doing a "Kovalainen".
What I see is Piquet is showing no progression curve at all.
BTW critics awaited for the 4th GP because in last years 4th GP, Kovy had scored twice.

And come on man, Dornboos and Kartikheyan were pay-to-drive, Monteiro was not that fast, Scott Speed was a diary writing *sshole. Liuzzi had his opportunity as well as Klien and maybe these two are the best of this group you mention.

[WhiteBlue]

It is widely believed that Heikki never was an option once Alonso was back at Renault. Alonso would not tolerate him as the second driver. If Piquet was already decided early then this is why Fisi was shown the door. He would have been acceptable to Alonso.

I don't think that Piquet is on a level with Heikki. He makes too many mistakes in a car that is better than the R27

[Miguel]

I voted the "needs more time" option. I've seen him struggling with the set up in Melbourne (one can blame lack of track time) and in Turkey. Whenever I saw Piquet in Turkey, it seems he was fighting the car, especially in turn 1. In Barcelona, with a supposedly decent set up, he was close to Fernando until that mistake in turn 5 (Seat?) relegated him to the back. With these considerations, I'd give him more races until he shows he is able to get a half-working set up (requiring perfection would be silly). If he isn't able to find a set up in a normal weekend by the end of the year, then he isn't F1 grade driver, no matter how fast he is.

As a side note, I'd like to point out that Nelsinho is probably a victim of Hamilton. I do believe that McLaren shared Fernando's setup with lewis and, once it seemed the WDC was either Lewis' or Fernando's, this pissed Alonso a lot. Thus, even if I want to believe Alonso is not nº1 by contract, I do believe he has forced a clause that allows him to keep his setup for himself. This speculation could be the cause why Piquet is struggling so far.

And finally I'd like to point out one thing about the R28. It seems the distance between the R28 and the lead is smaller than with the R27. However, the midfield is so bloody close that 2 tenths may even mean the difference between 10th and 16th (and you're out of Q2). Last year, the R27 was behind the McLaren, Ferrari and BMW, but Red Bull didn't catch them till the end of the year and Williams and Toyota were often behind. Points wise, I'd say the R28 in Melbourne was in a worse position than the R27.

Sorry for the long rant.

[freedom_honda]

the first thing came out my mind when i read the topic is "sucks".
i mean a "slower learner" is just an excuse. to me that means you are not good enough to stay. give you seat to some1 better and quicker.
Formula One is a fast moving sports, you are not quick enough you are out.
I reckon Sato(he has matured a lot since his day in BAR), A.Davidson or even Kilen is better than him.
the only reason he is on the grid is because his father was a world champion. he needs to focus or hes out. simple as that.

[Scotracer]

He was a fine test pilot but as a race driver he just can't cut it. Too many mistakes, too inconsistant...just not a Grand Prix driver. Sure everyone can mature their race-craft but when you're taking up a top position in a former championship winning team and team-mates with a double world champion, you have to either step up immediately or get out.

Go to GT racing or something, Nelson.

[bar555]

Too little time to conclude if he deserves a seat in F1 or not , look Kovalainnen . teriible during first races for Renault but now he is another flying Fin

[Ciro Pabón]

I don't know if Piquet has had bad luck, a hard year, a steep learning curve, a powerful partner at the team like Alonso or a combination of all of the above, but he's toasted as F1 material unless he pulls something like Kovalainen's resurrection at McLaren.

Maybe he needs to change teams. I don't know, truly, but he needs to do something. He has one of the lowest salaries in the grid (1.5 millions) so he cannot cut his pay. He has been criticized in Brasil, fans calling him "the worst brazilian driver in the history of F1". It doesn't look good.

Luca di Grassi, who's a brazilian, is a test driver for Renault, funny he is not mentioned in the list of drivers.

[Principessa]

Actually Piquet is "doing a Kovalainen" for the moment, struggling a bit for his debut and showing a sure but slow progression curve.

Piquet is far from doing a Kovalainen. Heikki got his act together after 3 races....we're already 5 races far and it still doesn't appear that Nelsinho is to score points in the following races.

The Brazilian was a fine test pilot but as a race driver he just can't cut it. Just too many mistakes! Piquet might have his father's name and is economically more interesting for Renault, but if he keeps on performing this way, even his famous name won't save him! (btw: I met both drivers and Heikki was more open to the fans and made more time for them. Another thing Nelsinho can learn from the Finn in my opinion. In that sight, Heikki is the better commercial option, just like the better driver.)

[DaveKillens]

Sadly, Piquet is underachieving. No matter where you come from, F1 is a huge leap. And Mr Piquet just isn't up to it.

[vyselegend]

Ok, sorry for this expression Princip & Belatti. By "doing a Kovalainen", I was just meaning "having a shity debut". In my memory the turn point where Heikki started performing really, was only Canada. Before that he was totally dominated by Fisichella (who btw started to collapse at this very turning point too, following his exclusion from the race). I thought I made it clear I rate Kovalainen highly and wasn't aiming at comparing those two that much, appart for the obvious reasons (both being Renault rookies and having difficult debut).

I think Miguel rise a very relevant point also, about the tightness of the mid-field group compared to last year. This year being behind the top three means you're fighting hard with Williams, Red Bull, Toyota and Honda! While in 2007 Honda was absolutely nowhere, Toyota wasn't that good, and Red Bull so unreliable that they barely finished half of the races! That makes a difference.

Last point, the 5 races count can be see on the two opposite views (like the half-filled or half-empty glass thing). Sure it's five already, but remember we suffered YEARS of underperforming Ralph and Fisi, and all of you weren't harsher with 'em than you are with Piquet. That's one of the questions I raise in my first post. Aren't we judging drivers too early? Is Hamilton's case the new standard for a rookie? The current result of the poll show 42% of members find it is too soon to pronounce a definite sentence. Maybe they're too sweet, or maybe you're too hard. That's the story of opinions. Anyway thanks all of you for debating your points there, that's interesting.

Ciro, any chance you sort out some "rookie mileage ratio year by year" from your incredible statistics? (Well, if it's too much work don't do it, you won't get paid after all ) I'm sure it would be instructive.

[Conceptual]

I think he has 3 more races to at least be close to Fernando, or I think he is toast. Nando returned to Renault too late for him to have any real influence on the design of the R28, but I am sure that the R29 will be a tailored exoskeleton of Fernando's will.

So, Neshino needs to get up to speed soon, so he can understand the driving philosophies of Alonso and be able to maximize his performance in the R29. If he laggs too far behind this year, Renault will know that he is bunk for next year as well. A move for Davidson at that point might not be that bad of an option.

Chris

[Ray]

All I know is, he's better than me and that ain't half bad.

[rkn]

The Brazilian was a fine test pilot but as a race driver he just can't cut it. Just too many mistakes! Piquet might have his father's name and is economically more interesting for Renault, but if he keeps on performing this way, even his famous name won't save him!

Atm that is the only resason for keeping him. He isn't quick and he isn't consistent. To me it seems that Piquet jr. has no interest in racing, he seldom has a smile on his face, and in interviews he looks introvert and uninterested. I'd guess that since his father is three times champion, it is expected that he will follow in his fathers footsteps, so he just goes with the flow. He's rarely fast in testing and he hasn't shown any qualities so far in the season. Still I would let him race the rest of the season, just to be fair. Mistakes are allowed, the current world champion makes them in every qualifying and has done so regularly, since last year.

As far as rookies go, there are plenty of ways to show skil and racing qualities without winning in their first season. Heikki was good a good example of that, albeit in the latter part of the season. Tiago Monteiro finished all but one of the races in his rookie season driving a Jordan, which was a far worse car than that of Renault. He also scored a point at Spa.

But if we are to bash the rookies, Glock is worth mentioning, he hasn't been performing as well as Trulli. Glock's also got much more experience both from F1, GP2 and ChampCar but at least he seems to have control of the car, the same can't be said about Piquet.

[Moanlower]

it's too early to judge. He is under tremendous pressure from the team, having Alonso as team mate and carrying his dad's name.
He has shown more than once that he can match Alonso's pace during practice and quali. He just had bad luck of having a terrible car to start with which also tributed to some of the rookie mistakes he made. I'm sure that he will suprise us as soon as he manage to get a good result and gain more confidence.