Ralf Breaks Jerez Record as Piquet Debuts - Day One

Nelson Piquet Jr., son of three-time Formula One World Champion driver Nelson, made his Formula One debut today at the Jerez circuit in Spain.

18-year-old Nelsinho, whose father won the last of his three titles in a Williams in 1987, came third overall in his debut season in British Formula Three and earned a test with the BMW-powered Williams team at the Spanish circuit today.

Piquet, his father watching from the pits, managed to complete a total of 64 laps at the wheel of the FW25, the only incident of the day being early in the morning, when he went off the track at the end of Jerez's main straight.

The young driver finished three seconds off the pace set by German Ralf Schumacher, who posted the quickest time of the day ahead of Spanish tester Marc Gene. Schumacher established a new unofficial track record, lapping more than two tenths of a second faster than the previous benchmark, set by himself in February.

Schumacher, who concentrated on tyre testing for Michelin, outpaced Gene by almost a second as the Spaniard worked with an hybrid version of the Williams FW25, which included a revised engine, suspension and gearbox.

Testing at Jerez will continue tomorrow.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:17.453 68 2. Gene Williams-BMW (M) 1:18.326 73 3. Piquet Williams-BMW (M) 1:20.453 64 All Timing Unofficial

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