There has been much speculation over the future – or, potentially, lack of – for
Nelsinho Piquet in recent weeks, but the latest name rumoured to be in-line to replace the under-fire Brazilian is far from expected.
Piquet has endured a calamitous start to his
Formula One career over the opening third of the 2008 campaign, punctuated by spins, crashes, poor pace relative to team-mate
Fernando Alonso and bouts of inexperience.
The 22-year old's trials and tribulations were crystallised in Monaco last time out, when he made contact with the Principality's unforgiving barriers in both practice and the race, and he has yet to out-qualify Alonso in six attempts.
With famously irascible
Renault managing director Flavio Briatore's patience said to be beginning to run thin, it has been whispered that Piquet now has just three races left to raise his game – or else face the boot.
Super Aguri refugees
Takuma Sato and
Anthony Davidson, in addition to the
Régie's test driver and inaugural GP2 Asia Series champion Romain Grosjean, have been mentioned as possible candidates for a shoot-out to replace the son of former triple world champion Nelson Piquet, but now another name has entered the frame too.
According to Swiss publication
Motorsport Aktuell, moves may be afoot that would see veteran
David Coulthard – who has also had a dismal start to what many believe will be his final season in the uppermost echelon with the Renault-powered
Red Bull Racing squad in 2008 – take Piquet's seat.
That would allow
Scuderia Toro Rosso ‘rookie'
Sebastian Vettel – who many believe is as good as a shoe-in to replace the Scot at Milton Keynes next year – to make an early graduation to the senior Red Bull concern, with Piquet completing the elaborate game of musical chairs by filling the consequent void at
STR, thereby enabling him to continue his
F1 apprenticeship in a less high-profile and high-pressure environment.
“Nothing is impossible,” the report at
motorsport-aktuell.com pointed out.
Meanwhile, a hotel owned by Coulthard in Nottingham has gone into receivership, it has been disclosed. According to the
Daily Telegraph, the Dakota Sherwood Park Hotel was placed into the hands of receivers three weeks ago, following a long-standing dispute between co-owners Coulthard and Malmaison founder and Dakota chief executive Ken McCulloch, which could not be resolved.
