Nelson Piquet Jr has launched an astonishing attack on
Renault F1 team boss Flavio Briatore after revealing that he has received notice that he will be replaced in the team's driver line-up.
In a lengthy statement, Piquet said that the news he was to leave the team would be the end of the 'worst period' of his career and that Briatore hadn't been a supportive manager but an 'executioner' who prevented the Brazilian from showing what he could do in F1.
Pulling no punches in his criticism of his team boss, Piquet said he was determined to remain in the sport and again insisted he hadn't been given the same equipment and treatment as team-mate Fernando Alonso.
“I have received notice from the
Renault F1 team of its intention to stop me from driving for them in the current F1 season,” Piquet said. “I want to say thanks to the small group who supported me and that I worked together at
Renault F1, although it is obviously with great disappointment that I receive such news.
“But, at the same time, I feel a sense of relief for the end of the worst period of my career, and the possibility that I can now move on and put my career back on the right track and try to recover my reputation of a fast, winning driver. I am a team player and there are dozens of people I have worked with in my career who would vouch for my character and talent, except unfortunately the person that has had the most influence on my career in Formula 1.
“Anyone who knows my history knows that the results I am having in F1 do not match my CV and my ability. The conditions I have had to deal with during the last two years have been very strange to say the least – there are incidents that I can hardly believe occurred myself. If I now need to give explanations, I am certain it is because of the unfair situation I have been in the past two years.
“I always believed that having a manager was being a part of a team and having a partner. A manager is supposed to encourage you, support you, and provide you with opportunities. In my case it was the opposite. Flavio Briatore was my executioner.”
Briatore, however, hit back, telling Italian magazine
Autosprint that Piquet had 'opened the book of excuses' for his lacklustre performances and insisting that he has never treated his drivers anything less than equally.
“I've always been fair with my drivers,” urged the famously outspoken 59-year-old. “I expected more from Piquet, because this is his second year with a full-time drive. He has done less testing compared to Alonso, but
Mark Webber has tested less than
Sebastian Vettel at
Red Bull because of his broken leg – and look where he is now.