Nelsinho Piquet has been lauded by his
Renault team after producing the drive of his fledgling
Formula 1 career to finish up on the podium in the German Grand Prix – from all the way down in 17th spot on the starting grid.
The Brazilian rookie had blamed traffic for missing the Q2 cut on Saturday afternoon – less than two tenths of a second shy of double
F1 World Champion team-mate
Fernando Alonso, who ultimately went on to qualify fifth – after displaying encouraging pace throughout practice and on the back of greatly improved performances in the last two outings at Magny-Cours and
Silverstone, the former yielding his maiden points in the top flight.
Though he made little impression early on whilst on a heavy fuel load, the timing of the safety car brought out for
Timo Glock's dramatic accident in the
Toyota would prove to be perfect for Piquet, who was promoted into the lead of the race in the closing stages.
Whilst he was ultimately unable to hold off charging former GP2 Series title rival
Lewis Hamilton, he would prove more than a match for the following
Felipe Massa in the
Ferrari – thereby thoroughly deserving his rostrum finish.
“I am obviously very happy!” the 22-year-old enthused, all-the-more so no doubt given his troubled start to the campaign, that had led some to wonder how much longer he had left in F1 “After qualifying yesterday I was thinking my weekend was over, but we opted for an aggressive strategy in the race and the team made some great decisions when the safety car came out.
“Then I had to concentrate to keep my pace up and look after my tyres as much as possible towards the end of the race. I knew Lewis was much faster than me, so I did not want to take any pointless risks. This second place today is a great reward for the whole team.”
