Q & A with Nelson Piquet

Nelson Piquet: The story is that we got a yellow flag and I had to back off my lap. It was at the end of Q1 so I didn't have any time to go out again.

Q. Did what happen yesterday have an effect on today's performance?

NP: Obviously I think if I had driven the whole day Friday and the morning of Saturday, probably my first run in Q1 would have been a little bit better. Obviously we should have run more on Friday and I think everything snowballed a bit after that.

Q. How have you found your first grand prix weekend after all the build-up and testing?

NP: Well obviously it's really tough. It is really difficult to set the car up for qualifying and the race, and consider all the strategy. Everything happens quickly during weekends. You don't have much time to think about things, they just happen really quickly. It's my first weekend and I'm still getting used to everything but learning-wise it has been very good.

Q. Do you take heart from the fact that this time last year Kovalainen had a very troubled first weekend but showed he could turn it around during the season?

NP: Yes for sure. He had a tough beginning as well. I think it's normal. I think some drivers have it a bit easier and we are in a team that is not the quickest at the moment so we're pushing really hard. For Heikki last year it was a bit different, he was pushing hard because the previous year he had a car that was world champion so he entered the championship at least expecting a few podiums. In his case I think he pushed a bit too hard, in my case obviously I'm pushing hard but I didn't have enough running in the beginning. If I had had a bit more then it would have been a bit easier. I am also on a track I don't know and every time I go out there I learn a bit more.

Q. Do you think maybe there is a bit too much pressure on rookies to exceed expectations very early on?

NP: No not really. If you have a good car, the right conditions and a team that is close to the front then it is always easier, because you don't push as hard. Obviously you are still trying, but where we are the gap of all the cars around us is much closer than at the front. The front guys only have four guys that are fighting for a race win, in our pack there is about eight cars. So I think from sixth to 14th is close. Obviously throughout the year we are going to keep pushing harder. Heikki has shown, being in a good car in his second year, that he is much more comfortable, and he is driving without making mistakes and this is normal.

Q. Is there anything wrong with the way Renault prepare their rookies, given the problems Heikki had and you've had this weekend?

NP: I think it is a bit different in my case than Heikki's. He tested for more than 30,000kms, whereas I tested for about 10,000 from the first day I heard I was driving for Renault. I had much less running than Heikki, but even so there is not really a way to prepare rookies for a race. Formula One weekends are always really difficult and really critical, but a GP2 weekend can be even harder because there is less time, the track changes much more and the evolutional of a track is much more from practice to qualifying. It's about getting used to it. If you get everything right at the weekend things can work out, this is just not the right weekend and it wasn't for Heikki last year.

Q. You and Alonso both been off a few times, is the car tricky to drive?

NP: Well for me obviously it's a bit tricky and I don't know the track so I have to push. You make mistakes when you push all the time so I think this is normal.

Q. But the fact that Fernando hasn't had a great day takes some of the pressure off?

NP: Oh yes obviously it does, but still it doesn't make you happier. If he was a bit quicker it would be better because it would mean that we have a quicker car, but I think it proves that we are going to have a very, very tough year and we are going to be fighting a lot with four or five teams in the middle of the pack.