Piquet Jr. hopes to qualify in top 10 in Germany

By on

The ING Renault F1 Team looks forward to round nine of the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship season, the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring. For now, the season hasn't been a walk in the park for Nelson Piquet, but the young Brazilian refuses to give up the fight and aims to qualify in the top 10 at Nürburgring.

Looking back to Silverstone, how do you rate your weekend?

"The end result was disappointing although I think I managed to get the most from the race as our one-stop strategy worked well. Unfortunately my problems started in qualifying as I had a technical issue and had to abort my final run in Q2, which meant I started the race from 14th. Starting so far back makes it difficult to score points, but I still pushed hard and made up some ground in the race. Overall it was a pretty frustrating weekend for the team."

Will this be the first time you’ve driven a Formula One car at the Nürburgring?

"Yes, because last year the German Grand Prix was at Hockenheim where I finished second behind Lewis Hamilton. However, driving at the Nürburgring won’t be a new experience for me as I raced there a couple of times in GP2 and I’ve always gone well and enjoyed it. I’m definitely looking forward to driving there in my Formula One car."

What are your expectations for the weekend?

"The team have been working hard since Silverstone with some upgrades, mainly to the aero which should give us a boost. After Silverstone I said that it was down to me to improve in qualifying and so I’d love to make it into the top ten, which would give me a realistic chance of scoring my first points of the year. You also need to keep an eye on the weather at the Nürburgring as it’s near the mountains and conditions change very quickly, a bit like in Spa. We can probably expect at least a couple of showers over the weekend."