Nelson Piquet junior

[Belatti]

Now Nelsinho belongs to history of F1.
Beyond scoring points, I believe he is the fifth son o a F1 driver to score points.
The pairings are:

The Hills.
The Andrettis.
The Rosbergs.
The Nakagimas. [the only one whose parent isn't a WDC]
The Piquets.

Sacrilege! Heresy! Sinner!

How you dare! HOW YOU DARE!?!?!?! to forget The Villeneuves?

EDIT: Mod, almost simultaneously!

[Belatti]

Well, it's done! Congratulations Nelsinho, this is quite a late awakening, but those first points are scored with style, overtaking Alonso was the cherry over the cake. =D>

Now it's important to build some confidence from this overall satisfying result, and keep the momentum for the next races.

Overtaking Alonso happened due to: 1)an Alonso mistake 2)Alonso horrible strategy.

Beyond that Nelsinho is still slow and the only thing that 2 points change is in his confidence, not his speed.

[vyselegend]

Well, it's done! Congratulations Nelsinho, this is quite a late awakening, but those first points are scored with style, overtaking Alonso was the cherry over the cake. =D>

Now it's important to build some confidence from this overall satisfying result, and keep the momentum for the next races.

Overtaking Alonso happened due to: 1)an Alonso mistake 2)Alonso horrible strategy.

Beyond that Nelsinho is still slow and the only thing that 2 points change is in his confidence, not his speed.

Untrue.

Nelson's fastest lap in the race was a 1:17.758, that's one tenth down compared to Alonso who recorded a 1:17.641 on a potentially faster car (shorter stint). The truth is that he never came that close of FA's pace since the beginning, so there was certainly encouraging speed from him in France. The average gap up to this GP was more likely 4 tenths of a sec by laps.

Qualy speed is still more criticable, but in Q1 he did 1:15.848 against FA's 1:15.754. Again, it's only one tenth down. Only in Q2 he struggled to extract further pace from the car, fouding one tenth more while his experienced team mate managed to find three tenths. (NP 1:15.770 VS 1:15.483FA). To me it's sounds more like Alonso being frightening fast than Piquet being slow.

Now of course the pass on Alonso's wasn't a real overtaking move (reason even whispers to me that he wouldn't have tryed if he was in position to overtake for real anyway, as you aren't allowed to be better than FA at Renault... Ask Trulli...). But for sure Alonso made a mistake, and Nelson didn't, so he took advantage on traction and passed. That sounds fair to me. Beside, would you say that MS didn't overtake Kimi in Montreal 2006, or that Alonso didn't overtake Heikki in Melbourne 2008, or Kubica passed Massa at Monaco because those passing moves where result of a mistake from the opponent? Point is in racing the one in front wins the battle, no excuse for the loosers. [-X

Thats it. I'm not arguing that Nelsinho suddently is a genius and compares with FA because he had a reasonably good GP, of course he still has everything to prove, but obviously your bashing him doesn't lead anywhere in those conditions, because condemning him for having been bad in the first half of the championship influences the way you look at his performance for the remaining of the year. For a rookie like him, each GP is a new start where you try again, hoping for not repeating the same mistakes you already did.

[Belatti]

vyse: if it wasn´t for Alonso 4 stint strategy (that didn´t work out cause he could not get speedy with less fuel) Piquet would´t be even close to him for trying the pass.

OK, you got a point and it is fair that, like you said, NP took well the adavantage of the situation. Also is fair to say that he got a little better and it´s probable that he´ll get even better.

BTW, I am not condemning him for having a bad first half of the season. I am condemning him for being the son of Nelson Piquet. It´s not his fault, but his father for being such a disgusting prick.

Sorry for this highly biased post but that´s the way I feel about Piquet Sr.

[Moanlower]

vyse: if it wasn´t for Alonso 4 stint strategy (that didn´t work out cause he could not get speedy with less fuel) Piquet would´t be even close to him for trying the pass.

OK, you got a point and it is fair that, like you said, NP took well the adavantage of the situation. Also is fair to say that he got a little better and it´s probable that he´ll get even better.

BTW, I am not condemning him for having a bad first half of the season. I am condemning him for being the son of Nelson Piquet. It´s not his fault, but his father for being such a disgusting prick.

Sorry for this highly biased post but that´s the way I feel about Piquet Sr.

Lol, oh that's how you judge. By the way, Alonso's 3 stop strategy didn't work because he poorly got off the starting line as he should have and lost 2 places. He couldn't get to speed with a light fuelled car and even less with a heavier car.. He simply went for a strategy with a car that didn't had the pace for such a strategy. He got to P3 in quali because he was super light and he threw himself over the kerbs, obvious that you can't match these speeds during the race.

Piquet started the race very heavy fuelled and was able to overtake Timo Glock. He also managed to keep Hamilton and Kovi behind him.

[Miguel]

By the way, Alonso's 3 stop strategy didn't work because he poorly got off the starting line as he should have and lost 2 places

4 stints equal 3 stops.

He couldn't get to speed with a light fuelled car and even less with a heavier car..

This --- happens when temperatures drop 10 degrees.

Piquet started the race very heavy fuelled and was able to overtake Timo Glock. He also managed to keep Hamilton and Kovi behind him.

Until he selected neutral exiting the pitlane, costing him and his teammate a position.

[De Weberis]

How about Villeneuves?

Ops,
Sorry.
I forgot the Villeneuves and the Fittipaldis.

[tarzoon]

How about Villeneuves?

Ops,
Sorry.
I forgot the Villeneuves and the Fittipaldis.

Let's hope for the Sennas also!

[De Weberis]

U-haaa,

Piquet seems to deserve a F1 spot after all.

Pos. Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps
6.Alonso Renault 1:20.998 1:19.992 1:22.029 15
7.Piquet Renault 1:20.818 1:20.115 1:22.491 19
GAP -0.180 +0.123 +0.468

However Sir Frnak also seems to doubt about Nelsinho's tallent:
"Our priority was Nico, he's really magic. We all know Lewis... Nelson Jr? I don't know."

[waynes]

i cant believe people were doubting that Nelsinho deserved his drive. He pushed both Nico and Super Lewis hard and looking at Heikki's performances in the first half of last year, its exactly the same thing

get one decent result and all of a sudden the shower of s***e he's dragging round the circuit seems easier to drive

confidence is awesome

[Chaparral]

i cant believe people were doubting that Nelsinho deserved his drive. He pushed both Nico and Super Lewis hard and looking at Heikki's performances in the first half of last year, its exactly the same thing

get one decent result and all of a sudden the shower of s***e he's dragging round the circuit seems easier to drive

confidence is awesome

He's having a debut season very much like his old man did - there were lots of doubts up front when PK senior debuted with crashes and spins but he finally got it together and subsequently won 3 WDC's - Im not saying PK jr is in that league but boy the pressure has sure been on him and he's coming good whilst people like Massa still cant drive in the wet - 15 spins for gods sake thats a mortal sin

[vyselegend]

HaHaHaHa!

Well done Nelson! =D>

Finally walking on Heikki's footstepts...

[Miguel]

Grrr... I'm so frustrated today, although glad for Nelsinho. He had a pretty decent pace today, especially considering he stopped like in lap 35. Remember that Massa wasn't able to overtake him! And could barely close the gap. Top quality driving by Piquet indeed in his second stint. Of course, those laps behind the safety car took care of graining for him, but nonetheless...

In any case, williams sucked today, alonso sucked today and so I will switch to another sport. I have the Open (golf) and Le Tour, not to forget MotoGP in laguna seca! Plenty of stuff to make me forget the... emmm... where did this GP take place?

PS: Am I the only one that felt that the R28 was dooog slow in the new part of hockenheim?

[vyselegend]

PS: Am I the only one that felt that the R28 was dooog slow in the new part of hockenheim?

Yes, and the cars once more shows poor laptime in racetrim. Renault's fastest time was Piquet's 1'16"910 in his penultimate lap, which is only the 9th fastest lap of the race, and makes the R28 only the 6th fastest car, behind Torro Rosso.

But it is not that simple to analyse because surprisingly the fastest Renault was the one on a one stop strategy (meaning there is normally a lot more to come) , and also, as you said it so well, Alonso s**ked today. In a slow car he becomes impatient and makes mistakes, he showed that a lot this year. I think he said he was looking forward the challange of mid pack racing etc but actually he just plainly hates not racing for win. He recently said in an interview that "all [remaining] races are important" for his decision to stay or break with Renault. I think if he struggles like that in a too slow car one or two more race he will say goodbye.

On a more ironical note, you can smile at the: We need points from both drivers - Alonso news from before the race, as he got exactly what he called for

PS: about Williams, they're repeating the 2006 season, with an even quicker drop of pace.

[Miguel]

Alonso had a better "perl" after the race. He looked frustrated, disappointed and everything but, when asked by Victor Seara about the race, he said something like "Next time, I hope to start 13th and wait for the SC to be deployed"

EDIT: Regarding Renault's fastest lap, there is a small hint of explanation in that Alonso on the soft tires did something like 15 laps behind Rosberg/Glock and then had the safety car deployed. After that, the switch to a long stint really played against his fastest lap, while the laps behind the SC favoured tyre wear on Nelsinho's car. This is just a small point, though.