Mar.17 (GMM) Renault rookie Nelson Piquet insists that a less than comprehensive preparation contributed to his disastrous formula one debut in Australia last weekend.
The 22-year-old Brazilian was off the pace at Albert Park, qualifying second to last before logging slow lap times in the race and retiring with suspected damage to the rear of his car."It was hard," Piquet is quoted as saying afterwards by the Spanish newspaper El Pais."It is very difficult to set the car up for qualifying and the race. During the weekend, everything happens so quickly and there is not enough time to think," he added.His predecessor, Heikki Kovalainen, had a similarly dire Melbourne debut a year ago, but Piquet insists that even that comparison is not valid."He was able to prepare with 30,000 kilometres of prior testing, while I only did about 10,000," Piquet said.Indeed, after Kovalainen was slammed by Flavio Briatore twelve months ago for his Australian showing, the Renault boss was more reserved in contemplation of Piquet's dire debut."I am sure this has been a learning experience for him, and I am confident that in the races to come he will do better," he said.
