Piquet Jr Talks Too Much

I can't believe these young punks these days. Take Nelson Piquet Jr. In F1Racing.net, they carry a headline about him. He claims he's like Senna. Read it here.

No Mr Piquet, Ayrton Senna you are not. Besides, I don't think your dad would like you very much if you were a lot like Senna. Piquet Sr. after all, never allowed discretion to keep him from heaping scorn and filth on the late triple world champion. Among his kinder description of Senna was to call him "handbrake," after being stuck behind Ayrton for the entire length of the 1987 Japanese Grand Prix. Ayrton, of course drives with eyes behind his head and there was simply no way for Piquet Sr. to get by. In the end, Nelson's brakes ironically gave away and he retired in the pits.

But back to the discussion at hand. This lad Piquet Jr. has some small talent, I suppose. A quick check of his profile here will reveal some successes particularly in the South American F3 championship. There's also the win in the British Formula 3 championship last year, his second in Formula 3. In his first season in Britain he finished third despite a clutch of pole positions and fastest laps. Well, just how many Formula 3 championships does little Piquet need to compete in? Ayrton Senna only did it once in England and dominated the championship beating Martin Brundle.

And then there's Macau. Again, at this, perhaps one of the toughest race tracks in the world Ayrton Senna came, saw and conquered. QED. Little Piquet has competed in two Macau GPs, both times he found himself hapless in 22nd or something or other. I can probably forgive the first time but if after that you still haven't got the hang of things, you probably aren't very good. If this guy was battling out front, I'd say he's got it. However, he doesn't and it really doesn't bode well for him. The Macau GP together with the Marlboro Masters the one of THE events a young driver must master. Little Piquet has failed miserably.

To put his achievements into light, even the always hapless Alex Yoong, one of Malaysia's biggest embarrasements, managed 10th or 11th on the grid at Macau before he went about doing his greatest party trick i.e. crashing. Even this poor soul has managed better results than our Little Piquet.

Well, I might be wrong about him in the future. But hey, up until now, if one judges his achievements against Senna, as our Little Piquet has done, you will find him wanting. Senna roared relentelessly from Formula Ford all the way to Formula One. There was a sense of inevitability about him. You could tell he was a world champion and nothing could stand in his way.

Piquet does not have that ruthless Genghis Khan-like crushing competence of a Senna let alone a Schumacher. Williams and other top teams would be best advised against taking him on board in the future. I feel this lad will end up the way of Jan Magnussen. Won the British Formula 3 championship but completely fizzled when he stepped into Formula 1 and McLaren. He ended up on his merry way to Indycars instead.

Some people are born to be world champions. Nelson Piquet Sr. was one of them. Nelson Piquet Jr is a waste of a top teams time.