Zoom Crunch time for Nelson Piquet?

Nelson Piquet has endured a poor start to the season with Renault. Racing alongside double world champion Fernando Alonso is always going to be a tough task, but after qualifying 17th in the opening three rounds of the championship, the Brazilian is hoping that updates to his R29 package will allow for a stronger performance at the Sakhir circuit.

"I think this weekend should be a big weekend for both of us and the team because we have the new diffusers and obviously it is going to be a dry weekend, so we are not going to have any problems," he told the media in Bahrain. "We are really going to be able to show our new pace of the car. I think hopefully both cars can score points and we can start from zero here again."

Speculation is rife that Piquet could lose his seat at the Anglo-French team if he is unable to close the gap on team-mate Alonso, something he brushed aside today as he pins his hopes on the new aero package.

"I think it has been a crazy start to the year," Piquet said. "Two races in the wet and in Australia, unfortunately, we were going to finish quite well and I had a little brake failure. Qualifying is not very good and I am struggling a little bit to get the performance out of the first lap. But I think obviously we had a tough car fighting between from tenth to 15th over there was very tight."

"Now with the new diffuser it should be much easier to be running closer to the top ten," he continued. "It is a different story when you are running there, you get into less problems and this track should suit us quite well."

Piquet's last point’s score came after a solid drive in China late in 2008.

Earl ALEXANDER
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