Piquet to begin Renault testing next week

The Brazilian, who finished runner-up to Lewis Hamilton in the GP2 championship, will join Renault's 2007 race driver Heikki Kovalainen for Renault's final test of the season.

"I am really looking forward to my first test next week with Renault," said Piquet. "I like Silverstone very much and I have driven there a lot, so it's good that I don't have to worry about learning the track, I can just focus on the car.

"I am happy that I am getting three full days of testing because it will be more car time than any other F1 car I've driven, and I am looking forward to driving a front-running car like the R26 for the first time. It will be a great chance to learn as much as I can and get to know everybody at the team."

Renault's test programme comes to an end at Silverstone next week because they will hit the limit of 36 testing days that was agreed between teams at the start of the season.

The team's plans also mean that Fernando Alonso will not test again for Renault, having missed this week's test at Jerez in Spain to rest his bruised knee. Alonso is leaving the team after the season to join McLaren in 2007.