Q & A with Nelsinho Piquet

Now he arrives in one of the tracks he knows better aiming to keep his momentum going.

Autosport.com heard from the Renault driver ahead of the British Grand Prix.

Q. You have scored your first points, you are coming to a track you know well, are you feeling good?

Nelsinho Piquet: Yeah, it should be a good weekend. Obviously last week wasn't a good week for me - the car wasn't ... compared to the McLaren, for example, we were quite far off. So I was a little worried, but I think that the result, the work they have done, and looking at the data ... Fernando's day was a bit better than my two days; I think they went in a better direction set-up wise, where they found a few things. But it should be good.

Q. How important were those points? Feel like you have overcome a barrier?

NP: I got over a little barrier. I think there is a lot still to accomplish; a lot to do. I think that was a normal weekend for us, and the other weekends were a disaster. So I think that every weekend should be like that, or better.

Q. So you think that was the first time the car has shown its full potential?

NP: It's the first time that we had a good strategy, first time that ... I did a good race. I made one silly mistake on the exit of the pits where I hit the button by mistake and went into neutral, and that was where Heikki overtook me. Otherwise, it was a weekend where everything worked pretty well.

Q. Nice pass on your teammate, too.

NP: Yeah, that was probably the best part of the weekend.

Q. How frustrating has the first part of the season been, given that people have expected so much of you, and yet you've been a rookie in a team stuck in the midfield battle. Has it been hard to deal with?

NP: Yeah it has been, but I put a lot of pressure on myself anyway since I've started racing, so it's something I'm more than used to.

Q. But did people expect too much?

NP: No, I don't think so. I think ... nobody knows what it is like to be a driver; everybody thinks that they're going to be fighting straight away. Every driver is different, every team is different, and some drivers can be more comfortable when they first start, some drivers catch on to things a bit easier, a bit quicker ... I had a feeling that I always did it quick but I don't know, maybe I take a bit longer.

In GP2 I was much better in my second year; in F3 I won it in my second year. And in the first year as well, I always won races in my first year in F3 and GP2. So I don't know. With time I progress a lot, with experience and everything. I spent one year without racing and without driving much; I was a test driver and I drove for maybe ten days in a whole year. That's not really much, you know?

And then you start driving again after a long time, and at the beginning of the season I was really short [on seat time] - we had to share the car until the middle of the winter tests, so I had maybe ten days before the first race of testing. I don't think those are excuses - I think there is a lot of room for improvement, there is a lot to learn, and a lot I can do better.

Q. But where the team stand is also quite tough - you have eight cars fighting for two points positions.

NP: Yeah. This is one of the years where you have the most cars fighting together. It looks as though all of them are all together there.

Q. If you drop two tenths, it can mean the difference between eighth and 16th.

NP: Yeah. It is quite a bit fight in the middle.

Q. This time last year, Heikki went to the factory to talk to the engineers, and they gave him a bollocking but in a motivating way. Have you had anything like that; a heart-to-heart?

NP: We have it every weekend.

Q. Has it gotten serious?

NP: No, I never really had anybody push me in F3 or GP2. Last year I think they put too much pressure on Heikki and it kind of affected him a little bit. So I don't think they did the same thing this year. But I actually asked some of them to really push me because I have never had it before, and when I had it there was a few times where I liked it, you know?

But it's always difficult for you to put pressure on a driver in a good way. It's the same thing if you go to a new job, and the first few days you don't feel any pressure because the guy wants to give you time. And then you go to the guy and you say, 'look, I want you to put pressure on me to do better', and then suddenly the guy comes and gives you a bollocking and you think, 'damn, is the guy really being honest, or is he doing it because I told him to do it?'

So sometimes there is a bit of that. But they try to back off a little bit because what they did with Heikki was a bit harsh, I think. I think they are being a bit more cautious this year.

Q. It's a good point though, that previously you drove for your own team...

NP: Yeah. The way you work with the engineers and everything ... I think obviously it is completely different, the way it works in Formula One and other teams, but I think I got a really good group around me in F3 and GP2. I was really comfortable, they trusted me, and we worked together very well. Obviously I was doing much more than being the driver; I was the team manager and was pushing always for the team to get better, going to the wind tunnel, testing in GP2, and stuff like that.

So I was much more involved with the team, and I had much more to do. It's sort of different in Formula One. To be honest, maybe I haven't clicked 100 percent with the whole thing. I will never be able to do what I did in GP2, but when I have the knowledge, when I have the confidence of the team, and when I have enough experience to tell the team what to do then I think it should work much better.

Q. Are you starting to have that sort of interaction yet?

NP: I think I have a lot to learn here still. Firstly with my driving, and once I get 100 percent comfortable with being able to do three laps and say, 'this is crap, this is not ...' At the moment I am still needing to drive, needing to feel the car a bit more, and I would prefer to stay on the track driving than doing a short run and saying what I think. I prefer driving, thinking, getting used to it a bit more, and getting the feel of it.

Q. Prior to F1, one of your strengths was always your qualifying. How do you feel about your qualifying here, getting the pace out of the tyres and so on?

NP: It's not easy. The tyres ... it's difficult to get a good lap out of them. It's not like GP2 where the more you pushed, the more you get the grip. I don't know; I suppose you have the positive ground effect where the more you push at high speed the more grip you get or something.

In Formula One, the more you push with the tyres ... if you go over the edge, the tyres completely give up and you lose a lot of time. And in F1, every little mistake makes a big difference. So for sure, I have been struggling, but I am getting used to it slowly.