F1 links: Briatore on Piquet
20th April 2009, 23:40 by Keith Collantine 15 Comments »
Briatore buoyant over Renault form
Flavio Briatore on Nelson Piquet Jnr's race: "Jesus Christ, it was a very, very bad race. I understand if you spin once, but this was kind of a contest: the more you spin the more points you have. He spun a lot but no points. He needs a normal race. A lot of people spun, not just Nelsinho. People with more experience, from Kubica to Heidfeld, everybody spun. Alonso spun as well. This is just the beginning of the season. At least we have a really good car now "
McLaren: Brawn should get TV money
Martin Whitmarsh on Flavio Briatore's demand that Brawn GP be withheld FOM money: "We need some calmness within FOTA – there's a FOTA meeting called for after Bahrain and we need to calm down. As a team, we've generally stayed out of it because we can see the potential for causing a lot of flamboyant gestures. The world is in an economic crisis, the automotive sector is going through a tough time and what F1 should be doing is acting responsibly, remaining calm, making sure we work together and that's certainly our view. We've said that we support Brawn. We've said that we're going to, in that they're considered a new entry, distribute Concorde monies to them, and we should do what we said we were going to do."
Travelling in a Formula One World
"I tapped the driver on the shoulder to show him again the piece of paper with "Formula One" written on it in Chinese which the girl at the hotel front desk had done for me. He seemed quite sure where he was going, so I sat back and enjoyed the ride." You know how this is going to end…
Chinese fans (slightly odd) banners
Vettel: I Name Thee Kate’s Dirty Sister
I wondered what that was all about…
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Paige Michael-Shetley said on 21st April 2009, 2:23
Renault has a “really good car” now? Where is it?
I guess it’s a legitimate claim, though, if we consider extremely lightly fueled cars to be “really good.”
Paige Michael-Shetley said on 21st April 2009, 2:23
There’s one reason why Flavio supports Piquet.
Well, actually millions of them.
Striay said on 21st April 2009, 9:02
…. And it is???
ajokay said on 21st April 2009, 10:43
Millions of them… Euros (or Dollers or Pounds). From Daddy Piquet.
Certainly what he misses in talent, he can make up for in monies.
Jay Menon said on 21st April 2009, 5:24
Yeah..I was quite suprised to hear him say that..”really good car”? Come on, the on reason why the got on the front row was because of the light fuel load and Fernando Alonso’s uncanny capability to muscle a truck round the bends.
Having said that, Fernando did look a lot more comfortable round Shanghai. The new bits they’ve put on his car has definitely improved performance, but probably not race winning pace. The Renault engine has pace, RBR proved that, unfortunately Flavio does not have Adrian Newey on his payroll.
DGR-F1 said on 21st April 2009, 8:17
Why does Flavio think he deserves more TV money than Brawn? Even if the car was developed under the ‘Honda’ name, and now runs as ‘Brawn’, its the same people at the factory who built the thing (well, most of them anyway)and deserve the FOM cash thats due to them. Otherwise Bernie will just hoard it somewhere….
I wonder if its on record what happened when Bennetton (under Flavio), became Renault (under Flavio). Did they get the money then?
Oliver said on 21st April 2009, 9:03
The difference here is Honda probably told FOM that they were pulling out of F1. It wasn’t just a normal change of ownership like we’ve had in the past.
PJA said on 21st April 2009, 13:04
It looks like the cracks are starting to appear in FOTA with Briatore throwing a tantrum because Renault aren’t at the front. I liked this quote from Ross Brawn
When asked at Shanghai if he had a message for Briatore, Brawn cheekily replied: “I think change the medication!”
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74600
John H said on 21st April 2009, 13:36
What is this mad man talking about??
Tengil said on 21st April 2009, 16:32
If you believe in something hard enough, it will come true.
Flavio lacks some of the filters the rest of us has between the brain and the mouth.
159Tom said on 21st April 2009, 14:12
The Renault looks better with its nose ripped off. But not “really good”.
I thought they missed a trick by calling Alonso in before the “start”, instead of letting him race up front – even just for 2 or 3 laps.
Piquet will get “a normal race” when (if) he stops getting knocked out of qualifying…same applies to Nakajima.
SamS said on 21st April 2009, 16:25
Briatorie is a Fool. Case closed.
Aaron Shearer said on 21st April 2009, 21:11
I’m really confused about the fuel situation. Doesn’t the FIA weigh the cars after the Qualification? So how on earth can Alonso have possibly have had the same fuel load as Button.
I agree with Ross Brawn, he does need to change his medication and come back down to earth …
leo said on 24th April 2009, 14:34
I GO W/ AARON,ON BRIATORIE,SINCE HE’S NOT ON EARTH LET HIM STAY
UP THERE TILL SEASON END. LEO
The Limit said on 25th April 2009, 5:32
My opinions on Piquet Jnr may well be heavily clouded by
my deep distrust and dislike of his father. And no, I am not a Nigel Mansell fan!
As for Flavio Briatore, his recent verbal attack on Jenson Button is as pathetic as the performance of the Italian’s team as of late. This is, ofcourse, the same
Flavio Briatore who allowed Jenson Button the privelege of racing his Benetton racing cars years ago. That is, ofcourse, until Briatore attained Fernando Alonso’s
services.
Briatore was spot on for going with Alonso, and has the trophies and the millions in the bank to prove it.
What rankles me is that a ‘true sportsman’ would not begrudge a former employee his or her moment of success.
It seems that those who delight in the difficulties of others find it alot less amusing when they prosper, at their expense ofcourse.
I recently, on hearing of Ron Dennis’ departure from F1, casted my mind back to Brazil 2007. On witnessing Kimi Raikkonen win his first world championship, at the
painfull expense of his own team, in a season rought with scandal and accusation, still found time to
congratulate his former Number One driver!
As Mika Hakkinen put it at Suzuka in 2000, ‘part of being a good champion, and winner, is to be a gracious loser’. As Mika put it ‘you don’t like losing, you just except that your efforts were just not good enough’.
God do I miss the times when this sport permitted the
presence of real men!