Although qualifying in the Q3 for the first time this season, the Brazilian finished outside the points for yet another time (13th place), as he is still targeting his maiden points this season. Despite benefiting from the same identical package as Fernando Alonso at the Nurburgring, the F1 sophomore failed to prove himself on Sunday.
And we know this Piquet story is getting old, as these are not the first reports mentioning his possible release from the Enstone headquarters, but we can't help it from interpretating Flavio Briatore's latest comments in a negative way. Talking to British magazine Autosport, the Renault team manager confirmed (even if somehow sarcastic) that he doesn't know who will join Alonso in Hungary.
“I don't know. Maybe I am in the car myself..” said the 59-year old Italian.
As expected, the name that keeps popping into the equation when talking about Piquet's exit is GP2 driver Romain Grosjean. The Frenchman has already won the GP2 Asia championship last year and is currently trailing Nico Hulkenberg for the 2009 GP2 Main Series lead, while also officially the test/reserve driver for Renault F1.
While Sebastien Bourdais' future at Toro Rosso is likely to be announced tomorrow, our bet is Piquet will wait a little longer until finding out his fate for the remainder of the 2009 season. His father's presence in the Renault garage at Nurburgring, however, can only help him squeeze a few more drives with the Enstone based team this year.
Besides, Grosjean's main focus for this year is to clinch his maiden GP2 Main Series title. It would really be no point in Renault forcing him to make the step towards F1, since there is little the French manufacturer is fighting for this season.
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