Piquet to Turn to North America for 2010 Drive

Although he was offered immunity by the International Automobile Federation (FIA) in exchange of information related to the crash-gate, Nelson Piquet did not walk out of this entire scandal untouched. As many voices in Formula One and international racing have argued in the past couple of weeks, Piquet will find it close to impossible to return to F1 after the Renault story.

The president of the Spanish motor federation Carlos Gracia put it quite eloquently earlier this week, saying that “the father (triple world champion Piquet Sr.) has an uncontrollable kid and he is a resentful parent. When they turn the fan on, they try to get the shit to hit as many people as possible.”

Under the circumstances, Piquet will have no other choice but to turn to other racing series at only 24 years of age, and his most likely destination for the near future seems to be F1's counterpart in North America, the Indy Car Series. Although he hasn't received any offer from the US, the Brazilian driver admitted that he'll try to land a job there for the 2010 season.

“I am aware that because of this (scandal) it will be difficult (to get a job in Formula One),” Piquet was quoted as saying by Germany's newspaper Auto Motor und Sport. However, he didn't dismiss a potential return to F1 in the future, when things will have cooled down.

“Some people will be afraid that the same thing will happen. But this was an unique case and I have learned from it. If I can't find a place in F1, perhaps for one year I will go to America and try to do a good job there until the waves have calmed down a bit. I was there in August for a week and spoke with some teams,” added the Brazilian driver.