Preparing to Engage: Interview with Nelson Piquet Jr

Nelson Piquet is still more than a month away from being pushed out of the garage and into pitlane to begin his first practice session as a Grand Prix driver.

But he is already well-versed in some of the peripheral demands that come with joining the Formula One ranks, not the least of which is dealing with a sometimes banal press corps.

At last week's launch of Renault's new R28 in Paris, the 22-year-old Brazilian had the grace to answer each inane query about being the son of a world champion as if it were the first time the question had ever been put to him.

He was equally obliging when being facing questions about Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, and his predecessor at the team, Heikki Kovalainen. Questions, it seemed, about everything and everyone but Piquet himself.

He remained affable throughout the allotted 30 minutes, responding to his inquisitors with a measured, slightly dry sense of humour that seemed to catch some of the journalists by surprise, as if it hadn't occurred to them that a Formula One driver could crack jokes.

If his patience was wearing thin he kept it to himself, although the occasional roll of the eyes would have been forgivable. When you're trying to carve a reputation as your own man, the last thing you want to do is sit there talking about everyone else.

But for anyone who cared to listen, the message was clear. Piquet has dropped the 'Junior' from the end of his name (although he'll still tolerate his Brazilian diminutive, Nelsinho), and he's standing alone. Not as the guy who was beaten by Hamilton in GP2. Not as the guy who has to be Fernando Alonso's second rookie team-mate in as many years. And not as the guy who's father is a triple world champion.

"When my father is around, it is good for him to watch - he likes watching - but I prefer to keep family distance and just do my job," Piquet said. "Our circuit for us it our office, and nobody brings their parents to their office. So I prefer to keep work as work and family back in the house.

Nelson Piquet and Nelson Piquet Jr © XPB/LAT

"He has been a bit distant from me since GP2 or so. He helped me a lot in F3, but after that when we did our team in GP2, he was kind of away already. I think the biggest way he helps me now is in administrating my life, and giving me a few tips on taxes and little things like that. That's where he helps me more at the moment."

With Alonso having turned his back on the turmoil of last year and returned 'home' to the team that helped him to two world championships, Piquet's step up to a race seat at Renault comes at an interesting time.

Unlike most rookies, the Brazilian has a head-start in becoming familiar with the people that he will work with, as he is already on close terms with most of the guys in the garage through having been the reserve driver last year.

"Last year I didn't race but I went to all the races, and I was hanging around all weekend, bugging the team, playing around with them because I was bored," he recalled. "For most of the weekend, I wasn't doing much. So it was a great year, and I got to know them very, very well. They are like friends to me now."

In fact, there are only two people in the team that he admits he still needs to get to know. One of them is his new team-mate.

"My relationship with Fernando is OK," he shrugged. "It still needs to build up, because we are just getting to know each other.

"Slowly we are getting to know each other, but at all of the early tests we only hard one car. Either he was testing or I was testing, so we were never together. Now we are going to spend the whole month together; two cars, debriefs... it's going to be a month of getting to know each other a bit better."

The other person that he needs to get more familiar with is his boss. "Now that I am going to race this year, every time I see Flavio [Briatore] he speak to me a bit more," Piquet said. "Last year I didn't really have a relationship with him because I wasn't racing, I was only there as a reserve driver, so I didn't have much to speak with him about.

"And with Flavio, you only really speak to him if you have something to say. If you go to him and say 'hi, how are you', it's not really a good time to talk to him! So obviously this year with the testing, he will be calling up all the time in February asking how the car is, what the team can do and so on. Our relationship will build up more this year."

Given the close friendship and shared history of success between Alonso and Briatore, it would be easy for someone in Piquet's position to feel a touch insecure - after all, it was Alonso's discomfort with a similar relationship between Ron Dennis and Hamilton that contributed towards the meltdown at McLaren last year. But Briatore himself is adamant that there will be no similar problems this time around.

Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet Jr at the Renault launch © LAT

"We know Fernando very well, we are very happy to have him back, for sure," he said. "He is a great motivation for everyone, including myself. And I want him to enjoy racing. I want him to smile, enjoy racing and drive with the programme. And it is the same for Nelson Piquet.

"I never liked competition between team members. The drivers need to work together for what is best for the team. We don't need to forget that Fernando has the most experience, he is twice a world champion with us.

"And Piquet has a lot to learn, and he is very smart, he is very intelligent. He is the future for us; he is 22 and very, very young - and in a fantastic position to learn from Fernando. Plus if he is quick, he can win races.

"There is absolutely no problem. It is just important that we have two drivers having fun, smiling, having a good time and being happy to race. That is what we want."

If Piquet is feeling any pressure, he's not showing it. If anything, his thoughts on the subject revealed him to be a deft touch in the gentle art of psychological one-upmanship, judging by how neatly he deflected any possible responsibility for the team environment to the other side of the garage.

"I think the press puts a lot of pressure that they don't need to put, as if I had to prove something," he said.

"It's much worse for me if I going into a fight (with Alonso) because, first of all, I'm in a team where Fernando won two championships. I'm in a team where Flavio loves Fernando, because they've been together for a long time and accomplished many victories together.

"It would be a stupid thing to do if I went into a fight with him. So I think the best thing for me to do is learn as much as I can and the day I have a chance to win a race, I'll win a race.

"It's my first year in Formula One. I have to learn as much as I can and whether Fernando likes it or not, I'm going to learn from him. I'm going to look at his data and learn how he works. I'm going to be listening when he is developing the car, hearing his comments. It's going to be a year when I am going to learn.

"I'm just need to do my job, which is do the same as him or a little bit under him. Just keep over there and score points. And just keep it calm and do my job, like I have always done. It's still a bit early to answer all this because we don't know what's going to happen in the first race, but my main goal is to bring the car to its limits."

Nelson Piquet Jr testing at Jerez © LAT

Outside of the changes to his professional life, Piquet's elevation to F1 has also prompted a revaluation of some more fundamental matters - such as where to live.

With Hamilton having moved to the low-tax, low-paparazzi haven of Switzerland late last year, Piquet now joins Kovalainen, Mark Webber and Anthony Davidson as part of the small posse of drivers who remain based in England. But if he can get his head around the increasingly complicated nature of his personal finances, a shift away from Oxford could soon beckon.

"Whether I stay in England is still to be decided," he said, breaking into a small grin. "I have been living in England since I came to Europe for Formula 3, so I am used to the bad weather, I'm used to the bad food, getting all the traffic at Heathrow, waiting for hours and hours in all the queues at Stansted ...

"Obviously it is good to be close to factory; I can pop in whenever I want. They have a very, very good gym facility there, so I can go to the factory, go to the gym, go back to the factory.

"If I have to move one day I'll move. But I will try to stay in England as much as I can. To be honest I am still learning a lot about all this tax thing - I am a bit of a novice, an amateur, a rookie in all this and how it works. So I don't know."

Whether his father steps in with advice on the matter or not, you can't help but think that Piquet is going to have that particular nut cracked sooner rather than later. Much like Nico Rosberg, Piquet comes across as a quick learner. And that's going to prove invaluable in the months ahead...