Nelson Piquet Jr to head to NASCAR
- Published on Jan 12th, 2010 by Adam Milleneuve
Piquet has kept up his training while hiding away from Flavio...
It's no surprise to hear that Nelson Piquet Jr will indeed not be making a return to the F1 paddock in 2010. The young, troubled F1 rookie has confirmed via his personal website today that he is to head across the pond and drive quickly in circles with the NASCAR championship. His personal statement in full:
Hi everyone
I wanted to let you know what I will be doing next year! I haven't always been able to let you guys, my fans, know first so this time I am happy that I can do that.
I have spent the last few months carefully evaluating my options for this year. I had to choose a path and it was a difficult decision to make. Being successful in Formula 1 was always my goal but I have learnt that happiness is just as important as ambition and after my first 18 months in F1 did not go as planned I have decided to focus on something different and have chosen to take a route in America.
NASCAR is hugely challenging and nobody has ever come in as an outsider before and gone on to win it - it will be the ultimate challenge. I will let you know more details on the exact programme soon.
This will be an awesome new challenge for me, and a healthy one. I have always been open to new challenges and I will be putting everything I have into this. I have found a good group of people that are really willing to help me in my career and I am grateful that they are there for me. I think it will be a positive environment and a good life experience. I am sure this year is going to be fantastic and I am very excited at the prospect of my future.
I will miss Europe and all the friends I have there but I will always have my successes there to be proud of. I want to take this opportunity to thank every single person that has supported me in my career so far in Europe, especially my team in GP2 and the guys at Renault - I am missing you guys a lot! I am sure I'll still do some racing in Europe as I have a lot of ambitions in my life, one of which has always been to win the Le Mans 24 Hours.
I want to wish everyone a happy New Year. Let's bring on 2010!
Nelson Piquet
So there we have it - Flavio and Pat Symonds got off the 'crashgate' scandal scot free, bar a black mark on their reputation and Nelson Piquet has run off to race in America, where stereotypically they haven't heard of F1 and therefore may not be fully aware of just how much trouble this youngster was involved with in the sport. Hmm.... some Piquet critics will say that NASCAR is a great move for Piquet because they don't have gravel traps to fall off into. Here at the Badger Sett, we all wish Mr Piquet Jr all the best. If you would like to follow his progress, get on Twitter and literally follow his tweets here.
Comments and Discussion
It seems a bit odd that he has gone to NASCAR – has he been that outcast from F1 that no other European-based motorsport will take him?
On that subject, if he feels he has to go stateside, why not go into IndyCars? I would have thought that would have been an easier fit?
If the exceptionally talented Montoya struggled to get going in NASCAR, I fail to see how Piquet will be able to hold his own…
There's more money in NASCAR, if you can make it. Hence why people like Dario Franchitti and Danica Patrick have tried racing stock cars when really their forte has previously been single-seaters.
NASCAR bores me to tears. I think the F1 rejects pick the USA because F1 scandals and shenanigans aren't known there. I still think it's a disgrace that Piquet is 'exported' while Alonso, who won on Piquet's phony shunt (that;s why it was planned after all!) has gone on to be superman at Ferrari and feted like a hero.
Er.. The reason is Alonso's a decent driver and clever racer, Piquet's a decent spinner and there wasn't much more than conspiracy mutterings at the time because Piquet had been off the road at every other track in virtually every session throughout the rest of the year. So it wasn't exactly unusual to see his car in the wall.
To be fair to Fernando, he had the pace throughout practice and was in with a genuine chance of at least a podium but the car let him down in Q2.
I think going around in circles will be perfect for Nelson, even though most of the NASCAR drivers still manage to forget which way the next corner goes and crash. Yep.. Nelson will fit right in...
yeah Nascar is just right for Nelson, when one guy gets too far ahead and the race gets boring they have been waving yellow flags and having safety cars, now they will be able to liven it up a bit and tell Nelson to crash, that'll bring the pack back together and entertain the crowd.
He's claiming he had an offer for an F1 drive today!
Methinks a driver claiming to purposely turn down a drive in the world's premier motorsport category is a big fat fibber.
Interesting comment Oscar - if you have any more info do get in touch here: http://www.f1badger.com/about/contact/
That's a harsh, yet popular analysis Dave H - Piquet isn't as bad as his Renault form suggested though - more here: http://www.f1badger.com/2009/06/nelson-piquet-jr/
Good info Oscar and your English is fine! Definitely win a 'badger salute' for most informative comment of the month!