Piquet faster than Alonso in Spanish qualie.

[dom180]

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news/detail/...

1 tenth slower but missing the double diffuser worth 2 tenths - sounds fair logic to me.

[groomi]

That suggests to me that their double diffuser is a bit crap and not worth anything at all.

[FNG]

I was surprised the commentary team didn't pick up on this at the time.

Thought Piquet must have done a pretty good job to get within a tenth of Alonso - didn't realise he was running an old spec.

Alonso might have had a bad lap that was good enough, of course...

Hope it's not a flash in the pan - if he can only match Alonso on tracks where he's got mega miles under his belt it doesn't bode well for his career.

[dom180]

The point is Renault know the gains their diffuser gives...

Or, to put it another way, Alonso needed a two tenth car advantage to be a tenth faster than the man, most people regard as a not very convincing F1 driver.

Edited by dom180 on Friday 15th May 12:17

[Duke of Rothesay]

Piquet has undoubted skills that he has shown in lower formulae.
At Barcelona he was being nursed by his team to try and give him the confidence he lacks.
And I am sure that with a huge amount of input he could evolve into a journeyman F1 driver.

But that really isn't good enough.
There is a massive amount more to being an F1 driver than qualifying speed.
And an F1 driver should be able to adapt instantly to changes and challenges.

Meanwhile he is keeping perfectly good drivers, like Davison and Liuzzi, out of a seat.

Edited by Duke of Rothesay on Friday 15th May 11:57

[dom180]

Duke of Rothesay said:

Piquet has undoubted skills that he has shown in lower formulae.
At Barcelona he was being nursed by his team to try and give him the confidence he lacks.
And I am sure that with a huge amount of input he could evolve into a journeyman F1 driver.

But that really isn't good enough.
There is a massive amount more to being an F1 driver than qualifying speed.
And an F1 driver should be able to adapt instantly to changes and challenges.

Meanwhile he is keeping perfectly good drivers, like Davison and Liuzzi, out of a seat.

Edited by Duke of Rothesay on Friday 15th May 11:57

I suspect both those drivers would struggle in the current Renault environment. So with a bit of "nursing", and he's faster than Alonso - sounds like bad management at the team then. Or maybe Renault need a Rob Smedley.

Edited by dom180 on Friday 15th May 12:23