Piquet Sr. to Buy Peter Sauber's Team?

Although parting ways with Renault a few days ago, as confirmed by Nelsinho Piquet himself via his personal website, the 23-year old Brazilian may still have a chance of continuing his career in Formula One. According to some media reports in Brazil, Piquet Jr. might join his own father's team in 2010.

Nelson Piquet Sr. is currently taking a personal interest in purchasing the remaining 80% of Peter Sauber's team. As German manufacturer BMW have announced their withdrawal from the sport at the end of 2009, the Swiss team is currently looking for a strong investor to keep it afloat.

While yet to sign the new Concorde Agreement – linking the teams to the FIA and the FOM until 2012 – Peter Sauber was given a few days by the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) to secure a buyout for the Hinwil based team. According to O Estado Sao Paulo and O Globo newspapers, the former 3-time world champion is very close to becoming team owner in F1.

However, his potential purchasing of the Swiss team would not be made independently, but with the help of Super Nova GP2 team chief David Sears. The two officials are not the only ones interested in setting an F1 outfit, as it appears also Fritz Kaiser and Joan Villadelprat are eyeing a Sauber takeover.

Either way, Nelson Piquet Jr. holds a good chance of securing a Formula One seat in the years to come. As a brief study conducted by www.f1wolf.com recently showed, the 23-year old is currently the 3rd best Brazilian driver to debut in F1 – after Ayrton Senna and Emerson Fittipaldi.

When announcing his quit from Renault, Piquet Jr. opinionated that “in 2008 I scored 19 points, finished once on the podium in second place, having the best debut year of a Brazilian driver in F1.”