Alonso Confirmed at Renault to 2010

[F355GTS]

As the title says, also Piquet staying for at least 2009

[Soovy]

Good. Whining little tosser. No one else would give him a drive.

[Cara Van Man]

Mistake.

I doubt Piquet will perform any better next year.

For christ sakes why don't they get a driver into the car instead of a name?

[Bombjack]

Good choice for Alonso and Renault.

[Stu R]

Why on earth would they want to keep piquet? must have some surplus aero parts lying around they want rid of.

[Bombjack]

When you've got Alonso, the key attribute you want in a second driver is that he isn't too good.

[entropy]

Soovy said:

Good. Whining little tosser. No one else would give him a drive.

Alonso would be driving a BMW by now if Kubica wasn't whining little tosser

[williamp]

Stu R said:

Why on earth would they want to keep piquet? must have some surplus aero parts lying around they want rid of.

maybe because he works very well with Alonso- he is perhaps a "yes" man, so wont challenge Alonso, and let alonso have the best of everything, whilst learning from him. Another driver might think they can do a Hamilton and challenge Alonso in the same car.

[Muzzer]

If I were them I'd have worked harder resolved their differences with Bourdais and stuck him in the car alongside Alonso...

[Stu R]

williamp said:

Stu R said:

Why on earth would they want to keep piquet? must have some surplus aero parts lying around they want rid of.

maybe because he works very well with Alonso- he is perhaps a "yes" man, so wont challenge Alonso, and let alonso have the best of everything, whilst learning from him. Another driver might think they can do a Hamilton and challenge Alonso in the same car.

Yeah but there's a limit, and it's a hell of an expensive way of massaging your number 1 drivers ego for no real gain. 9 DNF's and many, many bits of bent renault surely can't be what they're looking for in a driver, and whilst alonso seems reasonably happy where he is, Piquet could make a massive improvement and still not be taking anything away from him.

Just seems a bit of a liability when there's other drivers on the grid I'm sure would do far better in a renault and would make the change, or upcoming new blood that is looking for a race seat.

[10 Pence Short]

Bombjack said:

When you've got Alonso, the key attribute you want in a second driver is that he isn't too good.

Bang on the money, I suspect.

It also keeps Renaults wage bill down, too.

[andyps]

Muzzer said:

If I were them I'd have worked harder resolved their differences with Bourdais and stuck him in the car alongside Alonso...

I wonder if the number one driver put a stop to that. Bourdais already knows how to win a championship which wouldn't go down well with Alonso.

I can see why Renault have kept Alonso, but not sure about Piquet. Presumably Renault have also convinced Alonso that they will catch up engine wise and have a good KERS system.

[Jungles]

Same drivers = same yardstick as 2008.

With new regs, it's not a bad idea to keep both Alonso and Piquet. Keeping Piquet is dubious but at least it will give the team continuity.

[MonkeyHanger]

Piquet should get his new contract checked ASAP. He might find that Flavio's pulled a fast one and he's actually signed up to sell pies at QPR next year.

As for Alonso, the perma-tanned one needs him on the books to act as Wedding car driver again for the next time he gets hitched.

[sjn2004]

Stu R said:

Why on earth would they want to keep piquet? must have some surplus aero parts lying around they want rid of.

He did a great job in Singapore. The ultimate crash test dummy. Maybe FA has a button on his steering wheel.

[tomTVR]

I think Alonso needs to be in a better team than Renault, it must be really frustrating. Then again he did have a storming end of the season 33 points in 6 races which is more than anyone else in that time. Fingers crossed Renault can keep on improving and have a genuine 4 team battle for the championship next year.

[motormania]

tomTVR said:

he did have a storming end of the season 33 points in 6 races which is more than anyone else in that time. Fingers crossed Renault can keep on improving and have a genuine 4 team battle for the championship next year.

Couldn't agree more.

For all the childish Alonso bashers on this forum, the one thing people do not realise is that he's a bloody good driver and is able to develop cars very well. His input along with the new found direction in the team in the second half of the year shows what great potential they have.

We always hear about Newey, and Brawn, but I think that Pat Symonds is a very under-rated guy in F1. Maybe he likes it to stay that way so he can remain focussed on the job in hand.

Another intersting point is that Renault have shown time and time again that you can deliver world championship winning cars at half the budget of the bigger teams. Hats off to everyone in the UK - yes that's right another British operation. Fair enough it's funded by French money, but then again McLaren is funded by German money yet we all think of it as purely a British team!!

Well done Renault and good luck next year. My guess is that the boffins at Renault have probably got their KERS device sorted and we are in for a titanic battle next year.

Edited by motormania on Thursday 6th November 00:55

[mchammer89]

tomTVR said:

Fingers crossed Renault can keep on improving and have a genuine 4 team battle for the championship next year.

Maybe more, i've got a feeling that Toyota and Red Bull maybe be stepping on the podium occasionally.