Alonso: "Piquet Had the Same Package as Me"

Fernando Alonso backed his team, obviously, in their media war against former teammate Nelsinho Piquet. The Spaniard made it very clear that it was nobody's fault but Piquet's for his failure to get up to speed in the Renault R29 this season. Although the Brazilian had argued that he benefited from a low-performance package as compared to Alonso, the 2-time world champion begs to differ.

“We always had the same car – this has to be clear,” Alonso was quoted as saying to the Spanish reporters on Thursday.

Over the course of the ongoing season, it has been reported that Alonso always benefited from the newly developed parts, while Piquet had to wait for the same updates for at least a few more races. In addition, the Brazilian was forced to drive on a high-fuel strategy during the practice and qualifying sessions every weekend, which caused a consistent gap in lap times towards the Spaniard.

In recent interviews with the media, Piquet also argued that nobody at the team supported him during all this time, as team manager Flavio Briatore was too busy thinking about how to get more money in F1. He actually named the Italian boss “his executioner”, a statement that later triggered his ousting from Enstone.

Talking about the team's decision to part ways with Piquet, Alonso admitted the closure didn't have as much to do with the Brazilian's performances as with his poor relationship with some of the team's members.

“Obviously something went wrong on the human side with him in the team,” added Alonso, prior to the European Grand Prix at Valencia.