“Heikki had a difficult beginning of the season [in 2007], but he ended up good. I spent one year without racing and the year that I didn't race, testing was cut to a half. The year that Heikki didn't race, he drove absolutely thousands of kilometres in the car so he knew the car from head-to-toe.
“Heikki is doing very well now, so maybe for a driver not to be doing well in the beginning can be something normal and then a driver always improves.”
Unflattering comparisons have also perhaps unfairly been drawn between Piquet and former GP2 Series title rival
Lewis Hamilton, who notched up a staggering nine successive rostrum finishes and only narrowly missed out on the drivers' world crown during his own rookie year in the uppermost echelon in 2007.
“I think it's different when you start a season with a good car,” the 22-year-old insisted. “It's never easy when you are fighting in the middle of the group compared to having a car that is easily winning races and fighting only with another team.
“For me it was more difficult in the beginning. Obviously that's not an excuse – I mean, Lewis did a perfect job in the beginning – but at the moment, with my learning phase, it's very important to finish races; every lap I'm doing I am learning.
“Hopefully race-by-race I am going to improve myself and get more comfortable with everything and we'll get there. We have to improve in qualifying and get that sorted, [so as] not to get all this traffic in the race, because that's what's costing us points.
“The team are very supportive [and] they are trying to help me as much as I need though, so I have nothing to complain about. Obviously I want to score points, but it will come sooner or later.”
