Nelson Piquet Jr said on Monday he has been fired from Renault and blamed team principal Flavio Briatore for his failure to achieve significant results in Formula 1.
Piquet said he was very disappointed with Renault’s decision, but at the same time was relieved to put an end to “the worst period of my career.”
“I can now move on and put my career back on the right track and try to recover my reputation of a fast, winning driver,” Piquet Jr said. “I am a team player and there are dozens of people I have worked with in my career who would vouch for my character and talent, except unfortunately the person that has had the most influence on my career in Formula 1.”
PHOTO: AFP
Piquet said in a statement on Monday that the “black period” of his career began when he signed a management contract with Briatore, who “threatened” him instead of supporting him. He called Briatore his “executioner.”
“On numerous occasions, 15 minutes before qualifying and races, my manager and team boss would threaten me, telling me if I didn’t get a good result, he had another driver ready to put in my place,” Piquet Jr said. “I have never needed threats before to get results.”
The Brazilian driver’s best finish in 28 races was second at the German Grand Prix last year. He earned 19 points and his highest starting position was seventh.
Piquet Jr, son of three-time world champion Nelson Piquet, said he decided to sign Briatore as his manager because he believed the experienced team principal was one of the best people to help him do well in F1.
“A manager is supposed to encourage you, support you, and provide you with opportunities,” Piquet Jr said. “In my case it was the opposite. Flavio Briatore was my executioner.”
After a season as Renault’s test driver, Piquet got a full ride for last year’s season alongside two-time champion Fernando Alonso.
Piquet said some “strange situations began to happen” and that he never received “equal treatment.”
“I was relegated as ‘someone who drives the other car’ with no attention at all,” Piquet Jr said. “The conditions I have had to deal with during the last two years have been very strange to say the least. There are incidents that I can hardly believe occurred myself.”
The Brazilian driver said Briatore made him sign a performance-based contract which required him to score 40 percent of Alonso’s points midway through this year’s season.
“Despite driving with Fernando, two-time world champion and a really excellent driver, I was confident that, if I had the same conditions, I would easily attain the 40 percent of points required by the contract,” he said.
Piquet has not scored any points after 10 races this season, while Alonso has 13 points.
The Brazilian said he was not allowed to test as much as Alonso, and that the Spaniard was given a significant car upgrade in four of the first nine races this year.
He said he was already considering his options for a “new start” in his F1 career.
The Estado de S. Paulo newspaper in Brazil reported on Monday that Nelson Piquet is negotiating to buy the BMW team in a partnership with Peter Sauber, a move which would secure a place for Piquet Jr next year.
■MASSA IN BRAZIL
AP, SAO PAULO
Ferrari driver Felipe Massa arrived in Brazil on Monday, nine days after a life-threatening crash in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Massa waved to photographers just before being admitted to the Albert Einstein Hospital in South America’s biggest city, where he is expected to stay for at least two days to undergo further exams.
“Thanks,” he said briefly. “I can’t talk, I still have to recover.”
Massa arrived on Monday evening on a private jet accompanied by his wife, Raffaela, who is six months pregnant with their first child, and family doctor Dino Altmann.
Shohei Ohtani on Wednesday homered for the fifth consecutive game, tying a Los Angeles Dodgers franchise record. Yankees star Aaron Judge was the last player to homer in five consecutive games, accomplishing that feat last year. Ohtani, who leads the National League with 37 home runs, homered in the first inning off Minnesota Twins starter Chris Paddack. He hit a slow curveball 134m to center. He carried the bat midway down the first-base line and then did a bat flip. He did not hit a home run later in the game with the Dodgers trailing, but his presence was felt. With two outs
The 2025 International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) Mr Universe Chinese Taipei competition began yesterday at Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, with more than 150 athletes showcasing their physiques. It is the first time in 16 years that the IFBB has held a competition in Taiwan, the last being the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung. The professional bodybuilding contest is bringing together athletes from Taiwan and 16 other countries, including Malaysia, Japan, the US, France and Mexico. IFBB Chinese Taipei president Hsu An-chin said in an interview yesterday that the event came to Taiwan thanks to his lobbying efforts at last
Ben O’Connor won Thursday’s monster Alpine stage to the ski resort of Courchevel as three-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar responded to attacks from Jonas Vingegaard and dropped him to cement his grip on the yellow jersey. With just three stages left before the race ends in Paris, Pogacar looks poised to retain his title, with a comfortable lead of more than 4 minutes over Vingegaard, a two-time champion. Stage 18 featured three extremely difficult ascents, including the 26.4km climb of the Col de La Loze to the finish. At 2,304m, La Loze is the highest summit in this year’s Tour. Two
US top seed Taylor Fritz dropped an early yesterday morning marathon to Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina of Spain, while the UK’s Emma Raducanu and Canada’s Leylah Fernandez reached the semi-finals of the ATP and WTA DC Open. World number four Fritz, two points from victory in the ninth game, dropped the last five games in falling to the 26th-ranked Spaniard 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 7-5 after three hours and five minutes in a match ending just before 2am. Davidovich-Fokina advanced to the semi-final against US fourth seed Ben Shelton, who beat sixth-seeded hometown hero Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (7/2), 6-4. Fritz, who had 20 aces and six
RSS