Renault to retain Piquet for Hungary

Piquet has yet to score this year, and has only outqualified his team-mate Fernando Alonso once in their season and a half together. AUTOSPORT understands that a performance clause in the Brazilian's contract could have allowed Renault to drop him after the German race, and team boss Flavio Briatore initially refused to confirm that he would be kept on.

But Renault has now entered Piquet for the Hungaroring as usual, and he is optimistic that he will be much stronger next weekend as from Hungary his car will also receive the upgrades that Alonso used in Germany. It is believed that his contract stipulates equal equipment to his team-mate, so he is being given a further opportunity to show what he is capable of.

"I pushed hard, but my car didn't have the new updates that Fernando had and it was difficult to make much progress or match Fernando's pace," Piquet said of his Nurburgring race, which saw him fall from 10th on the grid to finish 13th.

"I should have the same upgrades as Fernando in Hungary and I think I can be more competitive. As always I will be aiming to qualify in the top ten and hopefully score some points in the race."

Piquet reckons his previous strong form at the Hungaroring will also help him achieve a better result next weekend.

"I enjoyed Hungary last year and it was probably one of my best races as I finished sixth," he said. "It's also a circuit where I won in GP2."

Present and former Renault test drivers Romain Grosjean and Lucas di Grassi, both currently competing in GP2, had been touted as the potential replacements if Renault had decided to part company with Piquet.