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F1: Piquet in the Wars in Australia
Written by: Adam Cooper
RACER Magazine   http://www.racer.com/speedtv
03/14/2008 - 05:35 AM
Melbourne, Australia
 
Like Kovalainen last year, Piquet is so far having a messy Renault debut in Australia. (LAT Photo) ยป More Photos

Nelson Piquet had a difficult first day as a Grand Prix driver in Melbourne, spinning in the morning and later losing time with mechanical issues.

The team made a precautionary gearbox change, so he missed the start of the afternoon session. He finished it a lowly 19th, having managed only 14 laps.

“He spun, that was his mistake, but the anti-stall should have caught it, and we don’t know why it didn’t,” said Renault engineering chief Pat Symonds. “Then when we were doing normal checks we saw that there was a fair bit of iron in the gearbox oil, so we thought we’d better change the gearbox, because we didn’t want to him to get out there and stop.

“To be honest perhaps it was a little bit over conservative, but we thought
was better to go out a few minutes late. So we lost a bit of a time there. Then we had a couple of little problems, and all in all he didn’t get much of a shot at it, which is a shame.”

Symonds admits that Piquet could have done with more miles, as Melbourne is not an easy track for a rookie.

“It’s a very, very tricky circuit to learn. In fact I’d say since Suzuka disappeared this is now the hardest circuit for drivers to learn. It’s got some difficult, bumpy braking areas, it’s a little bit featureless. It’s not at all easy. It’s one of those circuits where a bit of experience actually counts for quite a lot.”

Last year Piquet’s predecessor Heikki Kovalainen had a nightmare weekend in Australia…
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