Piquet and Briatore in war of words
Discussion
Source - Autosport
A war of words between Renault boss Flavio Briatore and Nelson Piquet has increased speculation that the Brazilian driver is unlikely to finish the season with the team.
Piquet admitted ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix that his place at the team was in doubt, with rumours having already suggested he could have been absent from the Hungaroring race, where the Brazilian qualified in 15th and finished in 12th.
Speaking to Autosprint magazine, Briatore said he expected more from Piquet and was critical of the driver for "opening the book of excuses" for his lack of results.
"I've always been fair with my drivers," Briatore was quoted as saying by Autosprint. "I expected more from Piquet because this is his second year with a full-time drive. He's done less testing compared to Alonso, but Webber as well tested less than Vettel because of his broken leg, but look where he is now.
"When a driver lacks results, he opens the book of excuses and begins: the fault is the weather's, a spectator's sunglasses, a spin on the straight, this and that...
"It's not true that there's a technical difference of seven tenths between Alonso's and Piquet's car. If that was true, we'd have a car capable of winning the title, and that unfortunately isn't the case. The technical difference has always been minimal and never longer than one race."
Piquet, who is yet to score a point this season, was critical of his team boss, saying he only thinks about money.
The Brazilian driver claimed Briatore, who left Sunday's race before it was over after Fernando Alonso had retired, has no respect for him.
"Flavio is a business man, but he doesn't understand s*** about F1," Piquet was quoted as saying by the Italian magazine. "He's my manager, but in his role of team boss he doesn't respect me.
"He only thinks about money, at how much money he can pocket in everything he's involved, he's a man with no friends. Every day everyone asks me what's going on, so why should I always keep quiet?
"Webber has been in F1 since 2001, he started in a different era, when testing wasn't limited. He's probably done more than 20,000 kms in testing, so it's not a fair comparison. Now the situation is more difficult for a driver with little experience.
"And besides that, I have to fight against Briatore and Alonso himself, who is a fantastic driver. When I wasn't competitive in qualifying, I was the first owing up to it. But if Briatore doesn't understand that, what can I do?"
A war of words between Renault boss Flavio Briatore and Nelson Piquet has increased speculation that the Brazilian driver is unlikely to finish the season with the team.
Piquet admitted ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix that his place at the team was in doubt, with rumours having already suggested he could have been absent from the Hungaroring race, where the Brazilian qualified in 15th and finished in 12th.
Speaking to Autosprint magazine, Briatore said he expected more from Piquet and was critical of the driver for "opening the book of excuses" for his lack of results.
"I've always been fair with my drivers," Briatore was quoted as saying by Autosprint. "I expected more from Piquet because this is his second year with a full-time drive. He's done less testing compared to Alonso, but Webber as well tested less than Vettel because of his broken leg, but look where he is now.
"When a driver lacks results, he opens the book of excuses and begins: the fault is the weather's, a spectator's sunglasses, a spin on the straight, this and that...
"It's not true that there's a technical difference of seven tenths between Alonso's and Piquet's car. If that was true, we'd have a car capable of winning the title, and that unfortunately isn't the case. The technical difference has always been minimal and never longer than one race."
Piquet, who is yet to score a point this season, was critical of his team boss, saying he only thinks about money.
The Brazilian driver claimed Briatore, who left Sunday's race before it was over after Fernando Alonso had retired, has no respect for him.
"Flavio is a business man, but he doesn't understand s*** about F1," Piquet was quoted as saying by the Italian magazine. "He's my manager, but in his role of team boss he doesn't respect me.
"He only thinks about money, at how much money he can pocket in everything he's involved, he's a man with no friends. Every day everyone asks me what's going on, so why should I always keep quiet?
"Webber has been in F1 since 2001, he started in a different era, when testing wasn't limited. He's probably done more than 20,000 kms in testing, so it's not a fair comparison. Now the situation is more difficult for a driver with little experience.
"And besides that, I have to fight against Briatore and Alonso himself, who is a fantastic driver. When I wasn't competitive in qualifying, I was the first owing up to it. But if Briatore doesn't understand that, what can I do?"
I would like to see him at another team as i honestly cannot beleive that he is really this bad - he has brought nothing to F1 and am i wrong in saying that he was Renaults test driver in 2007? I can remember him being interviewed when asked about Lewis a few years back and i am sure that he was there test driver??? I could be wrong.
TVR Moneypit said:
Wanta996Gotta said:
The Brazilian driver claimed Briatore has no respect for him.
"Flavio doesn't understand s*** about F1," Piquet was quoted as saying
Oh dear."Flavio doesn't understand s*** about F1," Piquet was quoted as saying
See ya Nelson.
Ok its Nelson- re-read it. I guess its bye then.
Edited by Ralf Rockefeller on Tuesday 28th July 15:43
I feel quite sorry for junior, he's been given a drive in a team where is it totally set up to Briatore and the Fonze's needs, poor guy was at a hidding to nothing before he even sat in the car.
The car is quite rubbish, the only reason it gets near the front in quali is due to short fuelling, apart from that it is pretty average at best. The Fonze has hardly set the world on fire in it has he?
The car is quite rubbish, the only reason it gets near the front in quali is due to short fuelling, apart from that it is pretty average at best. The Fonze has hardly set the world on fire in it has he?
Flav has a history of being commercial.
Poor young Piquet has a history (in F1) of being a bit slow and erratic. Feel a bit sorry for him on one hand, but on the other hand, when he's keeping people like Ant out of a potential drive..
Mind you Ant hasn't got the money, so Flav being Flav....
Poor young Piquet has a history (in F1) of being a bit slow and erratic. Feel a bit sorry for him on one hand, but on the other hand, when he's keeping people like Ant out of a potential drive..
Mind you Ant hasn't got the money, so Flav being Flav....
If your good enough, you will improve and Nelson is no where near good enough no matter what spec Renault he is given. If you watch his driving carefully hes all over the road sliding the car and never taking the same line through the same corner, he would probably be quicker if he backed it off a little bit and stopped over driving.
Anyway if he wasnt on his way out, he deffo is now slagging off the team boss!
Anyway if he wasnt on his way out, he deffo is now slagging off the team boss!
He does seem to whine a lot. The car's not the same as Alonso's, the weather's not right, someone hit him at the start, he was unlucky.
He may be right to an extent but the fact remains, an unlucky driver has never been successful.
I know it's unfair to the boy but I always thought his father was a w
ker anyway so I shan't be sad to see either of them go...
He may be right to an extent but the fact remains, an unlucky driver has never been successful.
I know it's unfair to the boy but I always thought his father was a w
ker anyway so I shan't be sad to see either of them go...Piquet cannot be as bad as people are suggesting. On several occasions he showed Hamilton a clean pair of heals in GP2 and the latter was arguably in the best team. It is unlikely that he would have won the British and Brazilian F3 Championships if he was so bad.
Renault is a poor, underfunded team based around their own double world champion. It is similar to when Herbert went to Benetton and had to have his car set up to Schumi's liking. He was in one of the best cars but he would only be able to win if Schumi failed, as happened twice in that season. Strangely I remember him falling out with Flav who refused to congratulate him when he won at Silverstone due to his perception of being treated poorly by the team (unlike his team mate who was very gracious).
He should be given a chance in a different team imo.
Renault is a poor, underfunded team based around their own double world champion. It is similar to when Herbert went to Benetton and had to have his car set up to Schumi's liking. He was in one of the best cars but he would only be able to win if Schumi failed, as happened twice in that season. Strangely I remember him falling out with Flav who refused to congratulate him when he won at Silverstone due to his perception of being treated poorly by the team (unlike his team mate who was very gracious).
He should be given a chance in a different team imo.
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