Nelson Piquet junior

[ESPImperium]

I did knock Nelshino before, but i now think that he has came of age now, he had some luck with the Saftey Car yes, but he was having a good drive today and i now think that Nelshino may be at Renault next year and Ferando will be at Toyota or BMW Sauber as i feel that Ferarri will go and get Kubica for next year to acompany Kimi next season.

That said, who knows, Ferarri may just decide to ditch both drivers and go with a Alonso/Kubica line up for next season... I think that Kimi and Massa just havnt shown enough potential for me, Kimi just cant find the speed they way he did last year when he needed to, and Massa should have done something good by now in a Ferrari.

Im gonna say that the team that they all are gonna have to watch next year it the Red Bull team with Vettel as he impressed me alot today as well.

[axle]

P2 was pure luck.

But at least he kept it on the road today. When he can quali within 2 places of Alonso consistantly is when he'll be worthy of his place.

[Tom H]

P2 was pure luck.

But at least he kept it on the road today. When he can quali within 2 places of Alonso consistantly is when he'll be worthy of his place.

Agreed

[Giblet]

If Alonso and Piquet's positions were reversed, we would have seen Alonso outdrive the Renault and fight Hamilton for a lap or two, me thinks.

[Miguel]

I am sorry too vent my frustrations here and now, on Piquet's thread but, as I said earlier, Alonso sucked today. Aaarrrrghhhhh. He was on the losing end of the stick in every single battle he had to day and, to top it all, he messed the trail braking going into the hairpin. Oh, god. From the top of my head,

1. Just half-decent start, didn't get the good line into turn one like for the third race in a row
2. Messed exit out of turn one attacking Trulli allowed kimi to display the better traction of the Ferrari
3. Slow slow slow first sting allows Vettel to pass him on the first stop. To be fair, he couldn't have gone much quicker with Trulli in front of him
4. Vettel out of the pits and with more fuel has better traction than Alonso and manages to jump him
5. In the pitstop traffic jam losses again against Vettel. This is later going to prove harmful.
6. Attacking Vettel steps too much into the gas and Kimi goes past him (again)
7. Vettel brakes too strongly, Kimi and Fernando start avoiding maneuvres and Nico goes past him. Oh, great.
8. Passes Rosberg but then decides life's too short not to do a crappy trailbraking at least once

So, yeah, I'm frustrated. I'm pretty sure MotoGP will be boooring and that Casey will get a commanding victory to top this "motorsport weekend". At least Paddy played great golf in the back 9 (Sergio went absolutely mad in the back 9) and le Tour was excellent as always.

[gcdugas]

I did knock Nelshino before, but i now think that he has came of age now, he had some luck with the Saftey Car yes, but he was having a good drive today and i now think that Nelshino may be at Renault next year and Ferando will be at Toyota or BMW Sauber as i feel that Ferarri will go and get Kubica for next year to acompany Kimi next season.

That said, who knows, Ferarri may just decide to ditch both drivers and go with a Alonso/Kubica line up for next season... I think that Kimi and Massa just havnt shown enough potential for me, Kimi just cant find the speed they way he did last year when he needed to, and Massa should have done something good by now in a Ferrari.

Im gonna say that the team that they all are gonna have to watch next year it the Red Bull team with Vettel as he impressed me alot today as well.

Its called Silly Season not Deluded Season. I have never read such madness in my 25 years following F1. Even Max's legal defense made more sense. Why not have Prost return to McLaren to replace Lewis? Perhaps Senna will resurrect and put the Force India car on pole.

Not one of your driver changes will happen. Mac, Ferrari, BMW, Toyota, and Honda will all retain both drivers. RBR is set with one change. Williams is 99% to retain both drivers also. Coulthard retires, Bourdais may get the shaft (he was beating Vettel until the new car), Fernando has nowhere else to go. Piquet is still a question mark. Force India really doesn't matter but I think they will also retain both drivers.

[De Weberis]

AT LAST... =D>

Of course, it was a lucky day for a free shooter.

However what we have to celebrate is a good 2nd stint Nelsinho made in the last 25 laps, staying ahead of the Maccas, Ferraris and BMW.
It has been a hard year for rookies as this 2008 season has several extra difficulties like the narrow range of the optimal operation of a F1 car.

The ban of TC and rar wheel ABS.
Very narrow engine power band of the V8 engines, compared to the V10.
Very narrow optimal tire temperature optimal operation grip, even Ferrari is strugling, Kova too.
Restricted testing.

If Nelson manages to get through the year, it will be a gret victory.
F1 2008 is the hardest forge.

[De Weberis]

In FP3 Nelson was just 0.218 sec. behind Alonso
4. Alonso Renault (B) 1:15.943 + 0.322 18
7. Piquet Renault (B) 1:16.161 + 0.540 21

NP criticized the team bcs due to the FP3 results, the team was confident and he was released too late in the Q1 Qualy session.
Vettel's turbulence was just a detail.

[DaveKillens]

After running half a season for one of the worst showings for a rookie, Piquet suddenly pulls it together. Yes, there was a safety car. But on a dry track, with just one safety car period to confuse most, Piquet drove a very stunning race. Basically, zero mistakes, and in the end, somehow able to match the pace of Ferrari to hold on to a remarkable second.
Piquet just drove at his pace, and the events unfolded in front of him. And despite the tremendous pressure of a Ferrari following him, keeping his cool and mainting a respectable pace.
The problem is, however, now he will be expected to drive much better than in the first haslf of the season.

[vyselegend]

True. And I bet he has the potential to up his game, as I rank him in the self doubters category. His mental strenght depends a lot of the situation. In a bad situation he will sink in desper, while he just showed that he can give a boost if there is an oportunity.

Besides, I remember now we laughed at his poor excuse of being "a slow learner", but the results now tend to show a notable amelioration, over a respectable period of time. So maybe this is it, he's just a slow learner after all...

The end of the season will answear that.

[RH1300S]

Some good posts above for sure...........yes, for me it was another piece in the "Wot is Piquet" puzzle.

This was his chance to lose his nerve and fumble away a good finish and he didn't mess it up. So he deserves the credit for that =D>

He has started slowly this year (but Flavio effectively told him right at the beginning that he wouldn't be bothering FA - these things DO affect your head).

He has had a couple of fairly decent races and has come home ahead of his team-mate on merit (I would count Hockenheim as a "merit" performance).

To me - right now he only looks to be in the "decent - but not brilliant" class of driver - a little like Fizzy.

Time may prove me wrong - but to shine in future he needs to be better than (at the very least):

Hamilton
Kubica
Vettel
Rosberg
Massa

All of whom are likely to be around for a little while and all of whom look like better drivers with room to grow.

[HKS]

Piquet is a very quick driver. He hasn't been able to prove his worth so far in the F1 circus, but he's slowing getting into the momentum. I became his fan, when I saw him drive the A1 GP Brazilian car in the very first race. Nico is superior to Piquet but Piquet isn't very far either.

[Conceptual]

I think it mostly comes down to the car and strategy.

If the car is quick, and with a good strategy, I think that Piquet can do well.

If the car is mediocre, then so is Piquet.

It is very hard to tell with everything that is different between his and Alonso's car setups. (Post race conference, he said that Alonso actually copied HIS setup) So ediventially Alonso is not setting up both cars, as was expected after last season.

But I think that Fred made the wrong choice leaving McLaren. He could be leading the WDC right now in the MP4-23 instead of fighting for 8 place points...

Chris

[DaveKillens]

I'm wondering how Alonso reacted and now feels about the fact that for this season, he has not been on the podium, while his supposed inferior teammate has stood on the podium. Somehow, I sense that this doesn't sit well with him.

[Giblet]

I don't see this one race rattling Alonso. He has proved time and time again to be 10ths up on him all the time.

Not even a potential whiner like Ferny can get rattled over safety car luck and a desperate pit strategy to haul Piquet out of his dismal quali just happened to work.

Alonso never seems to be too peeved in interviews these days. He just calmly talks about what happened and where improvement needs to be made for the next race or test.