Briatore: Nothing personal in Piquet dismissal Crash.Net
Flavio Briatore has brushed aside claims that Nelsinho Piquet was sacked by Renault due to a breakdown in relations between the pair – insisting the decision was based 'only on results'.
With rumours having swirled around the grand prix paddock for months, matters finally came to a head earlier this month when Piquet pre-empted his dismissal by announcing the split himself, accusing Briatore of being his 'executioner' and a man 'with no friends', who 'thinks only about money' and 'doesn't understand s**t about F1' [see separate story – click here], and describing his stint at Renault as 'the worst period of my career'.
In the ensuing vitriolic war of words, Briatore subsequently hit back in stringently denying his former driver's contention that he was never treated equally within the team and arguing: “When a driver lacks results, he opens the book of excuses and begins. The fault is the weather, a spectator's sunglasses, a spin on the straight, this and that...”
With a new driver in the R29 for the European Grand Prix in Valencia this weekend in the shape of GP2 Series graduate Romain Grosjean, the famously outspoken Italian re-iterated his assertion that the sole factor in Piquet's departure was a lack of on-track results.
Briatore: Nothing personal in Piquet dismissal | Page 1 | F1 News | 2009 | Crash.Net
With rumours having swirled around the grand prix paddock for months, matters finally came to a head earlier this month when Piquet pre-empted his dismissal by announcing the split himself, accusing Briatore of being his 'executioner' and a man 'with no friends', who 'thinks only about money' and 'doesn't understand s**t about F1' [see separate story – click here], and describing his stint at Renault as 'the worst period of my career'.
In the ensuing vitriolic war of words, Briatore subsequently hit back in stringently denying his former driver's contention that he was never treated equally within the team and arguing: “When a driver lacks results, he opens the book of excuses and begins. The fault is the weather, a spectator's sunglasses, a spin on the straight, this and that...”
With a new driver in the R29 for the European Grand Prix in Valencia this weekend in the shape of GP2 Series graduate Romain Grosjean, the famously outspoken Italian re-iterated his assertion that the sole factor in Piquet's departure was a lack of on-track results.
Briatore: Nothing personal in Piquet dismissal | Page 1 | F1 News | 2009 | Crash.Net
