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The Briton picked up where he left off in Silverstone, while Fernando Alonso set the 5th fastest time, with Nelson in 17th.

First part: There was a light rain shower in the minutes leading up to qualifying, leaving the track a little damp as the session began. Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet waited until the end of Q1 before they took to the track. To begin with it was the two Ferraris who set the best times with Raikkonen ahead of Massa. Just as the two Renaults took to the track, Lewis Hamilton went to the top of the times. Fernando was initially 6th fastest with Nelson in 12th. With three minutes of the session remaining, all the drivers except the two McLarens were out on track with Felipe Massa setting the fastest time. Fernando Alonso ended up in 11th, while Nelson Piquet finished in 17th. He was eliminated, as were Kazuki Nakajima (Williams), Rubens Barrichello (Honda), Adrian Sutil (Force India) and Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India).

Second part: Kimi Raikkonen was the first to go to the top of the time sheets in the second session, but Felipe Massa quickly responded and took over at the top. Behind them, Fernando Alonso set the 5th fastest time, while Lewis Hamilton�then took over at the�top of the times with a 1:14.603. By the end of the session, the two Ferraris and the two McLarens had secured their positions and did not need to go out again to defend their positions. Fernando Alonso ended the session in fourth, in front of the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen. Those eliminated were: Timo Glock (Toyota), Nick Heidfeld (BMW), Nico Rosberg (Williams), Jenson Button (Honda) and Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso).

Third part: Jarno Trulli was the first driver to take to the track and set the pace, but he was quickly dislodged by Felipe Massa, while Fernando Alonso slotted into second position in front of Lewis Hamilton. The drivers then returned to the pits to fit new tyres and to prepare for their�final attempts: Massa was the first to confirm his position at the front, but he was then beaten by Lewis Hamilton. Fernando Alonso managed to secure 5th place behind the Toyota of Jarno Trulli. The Spaniard was just in front of Kimi Raikkonen by 0.0003s.

Can't wait for the race start, should be intence with that grid.

Also Congrats to Romain Grosjean on his GP2 win today. YEAH!!! Go for it Romain and get that Senna.

I looked up the stats for this year todate as for as Nelson is concerned in the nine races so far he has qualified to Q3 twice that was Spain & Britain, in to Q2 four times and only Q3 four times. Also of the nine races todate he has had 6 DNF's. Not good reading. Then today he says with Vettel infront of him he felt 'unsettled'. Racing Drivers are made of better stuff. Okay sorry for going on but you cannot make silk out of a sows ear. Blame the car, blame the fact that he is a rookie, blame anything but him. Wasn't Hamilton a rookie last year!! and didn't he just come up from GP2 just like Piquet. Facts are Facts - like it not. Perhaps he will show us something special in the race. For sure he will go with full fuel and probably a one stop statagy. Lets hope for the best.

believe in renault will ya !!

How many GP2 race wins does that make for Grosjean this year, 5?

@Tony: If you want to compare Nelson with Lewis you have to say it all.

Lewis started in championship car with traction- and launch control. Also spend hundreds of hours in a almost perfect simulator.

You simply can't compare that with the car Nelson had to start in (with all respect) and without TC.

Another thing that is quite different from last year is how tight the midfield is. 2 tenths off the pace and your 10 places down.

i complete agree with nando fan ... its two different stories ... piquet hasnt come in to f1 with a winnin car ... hamilton did its different

Grosjean drove really well today and deserved his win.
As for Nelson- sorry but he has the name and that is about it.Renault will not make P4 in the constructors if he is not contributing anything. There are also other people in lesser cars who have shown more drive to get somewhere.

If you compare Nelsinho with the current group od new pilots, he doesn�t look that bad, in fact he�s about average.
S. Bourd HF 7, Grid 13, Retire 4
S. Vettel HF 5, Grid 8, Retire 5
Nelsinho HF 7, Grid 7, Retire 6
K. Nakajima HF 6, Grid 12, Retire 2
T. Glock HF 4, Grid 8, Retire 2

HF= highest finish
Grid= Highest grid position

god u guys need leave piquet alone he wil get to grips with the car he dont need ur support tho

Piquet senoir also struggled in his first F1 season with crashes and spins and people having lots of doubts until he finally got it together and subsequently won 3 WDC's.

Nelson's was just dropped in Ffirst GP2 season was also because his name is Piquet. He won several titles along in his short career so far such as 2 F3 titles. He won 1 race of 22 in his first GP2 season and was runner up in his second behind Lewis with 4 wins, 6 pole positions and 8 podiums.

There is so much to learn in F1 and having to start off in a difficult car with Alonso as team mate at a team that expect good results after their recent succeses.

Oops that previous post is pretty messed up. But I think you get what I mean.

)

Doesn't make him do any better though does it? Especially after his loud big mouth utterings at the start of the season about how he was going to give Alonso a run for his money and beat him- sorry- get Grosjean in- and I wstill don't understand why they let Heikki go. But there again the decisions of the team this year have made me seriously wonder as to any remaining sanity there.

Why did let Rf1 Nelson do only 7 laps in 1st Q ? They let him out 12 min left'. I saw the Ferrari goes out very early with fuel for 6/7 laps and hard tires to check the conditions, Kimi drove 10 laps in Q1 ,he`s got one of the best cars in the field, but he went out . Why I don`t saw a Renault in this early stage of quali? and they give an unnatural timepressure to Nelson in Q1'''. I read the interview with A.Permane ,and I read everything is going well, Fernando is the Darling
and nobody does any mistake.(only Nelson is a disapointment). Fernando(a two times Worldchahmpion) has exactly 13 Points after 9 races and a real talent like Nelson have 2 points. I ask myself if maybe has some other guys think about themself how they can improve without critizice or celebrate only the drivers??

@Carib: I also wonder why they didn't let Nelson do more laps during Q1. He could do a couple of laps on hard tyres to have a better feel of the conditions and then there would still be time and tyres left to get him out again on 2 sets of fresh tyres.
It's easy to blame the driver (Nelson) for his poor performance but like Carib said, Nelson didn't got the preparation he should have prior to the start of the season. But I guess we only can throw compliments in here and that there's no room to criticism.
Anywho, I'm quite sure RF1 is already looking to replace Nelson for next year.

@ NandoFan

What do you think about the Team performance this year??
A double worldchampionship winner with 13 points after 8 races , and critizice a rookie?? I think Nelson will do his way in F1, with or without RF1

I think the team is doing a very good job in making the car better and more competitive.
I don't agree with the way they prepair rookie drivers. It's so hard already for experienced F1 drivers. Rookie's should have the chance to race F1 simulators and learn the tracks before the start of the season, or at least before the race weekend.

Nelson is a great talent but is someone who needs a bit more time until he can show his full potential but in F1 you have to deliver almost right away.

OK gays let s goo tomorow........

@13 ive said it a couple of times before. When he goes out he gets one chance on hards if he doesnt make it with that lap he goes out again on softs but at this point he will be under so much pressure to get the perfect lap. I would guess if he had three or even four chances he would beable to get through easy

But then again im sure renault have reasons for this so we just have to hope things go well in the race go nelson and go Fernando

Morning guys, so I see everyone is still analysing the team�s qualifying performance, and you�ve dragged up some more stats, Tony. As we all know, the stats don�t give the full picture, and the last two races in France and Britain really confirmed that Nelson has made a breakthrough. OK, so qualifying yesterday was not what he wanted, but he has vowed to fight in the race and be aggressive. As a rookie, he is still learning so much about Formula 1, and how best to maximise his weekends. Remember that Fernando has been doing this for seven years already and has so much more experience to draw on.

Pat Symonds expects Nelson to have a strong race this afternoon, and with this being a track where overtaking is possible (especially into turn6), I�m sure Nelson can turn in a good performance. He�s motivated and ready for the race.