Can Nelsinho win the title this year?

piquetfan · 11 May 2003, 16:58 (Ref:596124)

Hi,

I'm new to the forum. I was a great fan of Piquet and I'm very happy that at least one of his many sons seems to have inherited his talent.

Nelsinho won the race 8 today and also set the fastest lap.

Race results - Rd. 8 - Knockhill:

1. Nelson Piquet Junior C Piquet Sports Dallara-Mugen 16mins 53.390secs 21 laps

2. Jamie Green C Carlin Dallara-Mugen +4.588s

3. Michael Keohane C Promatecme Dallara-Mugen +5.461s

4. Alan van der Merwe C Carlin Dallara-Mugen +8.846s

5. Will Davison C ADR Dallara-Mugen +9.217s

6. Robert Dahlgren C Fortec Dallara-Renault +11.866s

7. Steven Kane S T-Sport Dallara-Mugen +13.428s

8. Ronnie Bremer C Carlin Dallara-Mugen +16.554s

9. Ernesto Viso S Sweeney Dallara-Mugen +17.025s

10. Danny Watts C Hitech Dallara-Renault +21.603s

11. Richard Antinucci C Carlin Dallara-Mugen +21.925s

12. Christian England S Promatecme Dallara-Mugen +29.820s

13. Andrew Thompson C Hitech Dallara-Renault +30.277s

14. Clivio Piccione C Manor Dallara-Mugen +30.478s

15. Fauzy Fairuz C Team SYR Dallara-Opel +33.918s16. Eric Salignon C Hitech Dallara-Renault +34.479s17. Ivor McCullough S Meritus Dallara-Mugen +36.016s18. Scott Speed C ADR Dallara-Mugen +36.19519. Tor Graves C Manor Dallara-Mugen +37.997s20. Rizal Ramli C Team SYR Dallara-Opel +44.970s21. Billy Asaro C P1 Motorsport Dallara-Opel +1 lap22. Fauzy Fairuz C Team SYR Dallara-Opel 1 lap

Do you think he can win the title this year or the Carlin Team is too strong?

Championship is now:

1) ALDW 120 points
2) Jamie Green 94 points
3) Nelsinho 74

Cheers!

Daisy · 11 May 2003, 17:01 (Ref:596128)

I think he can do, their are some strong candidates, including the carlin boys, but if he stays cool and keeps winning, I'm sure he can. He's good enough for it.

piquetfan · 11 May 2003, 17:09 (Ref:596132)

Do you think Carlin (which has 4 drivers) will use any team orders if necessary, for example, if Nelsinho or Rob Austin challenges them? Is this the way things work in F3?

Russfeld · 11 May 2003, 17:12 (Ref:596135)

He should, he's the most experienced driver in the field

piquetfan · 11 May 2003, 17:18 (Ref:596136)

Quote:

Originally posted by Russfeld
He should, he's the most experienced driver in the field

Why? He is only 17!!!

Nelsinho raced a single seater for the first time in mid-2001, when he turned 16. Before that, he had driven only karts. 2002 was his only full season driving a single seater, and in 18 races he won 13, set 15 poles and 14 fastest laps.

Besides, he does not know any of the tracks. And it is the same for the team - Piquet sports is new in England, while Carlin knows every corner from every circuit, and this gives them an advantage in terms of finding the right setup.

Of his competitors, which ones have never raced in F3? Jamie Green is a rookie, but AVDW already knows all the circuits. Last year he wasn't very impressive apparently.

Russfeld · 11 May 2003, 17:35 (Ref:596150)

He had thousands of miles of F3 testing before his 1.5 seconds of SudamF3. He has more F3 miles than probably most guys in this field.

piquetfan · 11 May 2003, 17:45 (Ref:596158)

Quote:

Originally posted by Russfeld
He had thousands of miles of F3 testing before his 1.5 seconds of SudamF3. He has more F3 miles than probably most guys in this field.

Well, he tested a lot in Brazil because his team was new, while his competitors had tens of thousands of miles in testing in each circuit. He was only catching up, and as soon as he did, he dominated the season. Given that he has less than 2 years driving an F3, he has less mileage than ALDW for example.

But now in England he hasn't done more testing than anybody else. On the contrary, there was no testing prior to this week at Knockhill, and Nelsinho was the best of all in the weekend.

The fact is that Nelsinho and his team had NEVER seen Knockhill before, and they go home with one win, one fastest lap, one pole, two first rows.

And we are talking about the youngest driver and team in the championship. I don't think this is only experience.

piquetfan · 11 May 2003, 18:15 (Ref:596175)

I just read that Nelsinho became the youngest ever winner of a British F3 championship race.

Do you think his wins are due to 'experience'?

flor · 11 May 2003, 18:25 (Ref:596177)

i'd like to see him against nico rosberg

x_dt · 11 May 2003, 18:31 (Ref:596179)

Quote:

Originally posted by flor
i'd like to see him against nico rosberg

There must be a good chance of them competing against each other at some point this year (Zandvoort, Macau, anywhere else?)

piquetfan · 11 May 2003, 18:33 (Ref:596181)

And the funny thing is that Prost's son Nicolas is also racing in the Japanese Formula Campus (he finished 4th and 6th in his debut).

Maybe Prost, Rosberg, Piquet on the F1 grid in a few years?

Difficult to say, but I am sure Piquet Jr is doing what it takes. I hope Nico does well too, it woulb be good for F1.

paulzinho · 11 May 2003, 18:48 (Ref:596191)

I'd love to see him win it and this is supposed to be his "learning" year! What happens next year?!?!

Lee Janotta · 11 May 2003, 18:55 (Ref:596196)

Only if he cheats again.

flor · 11 May 2003, 19:00 (Ref:596204)

Quote:

Originally posted by x_dt

There must be a good chance of them competing against each other at some point this year (Zandvoort, Macau, anywhere else?)

well i hope so, but his team didn't take part in these races last year

piquetfan · 11 May 2003, 19:00 (Ref:596205)

Quote:

Originally posted by Lee Janotta
Only if he cheats again.

???

Empty words...

What was the 'cheating' today?
He's the youngest driver to win a British F3 title. Maybe they changed his birth certificate...maybe he's 27 instead of 17.

Russfeld · 11 May 2003, 19:02 (Ref:596207)

I feel bad in a way for the drivers racing agasin the 'legacy' drivers

"Derek Hill finishes 19th in F3000 race. btw Pantano won"

Morcilman · 11 May 2003, 20:57 (Ref:596313)

guys, we must admit that he is really good. He legally cheated in Brasil, he has a lot of budget, but he is driving the car faster than anybody else... he is very good and can win the champ, like it or not

**touringlegend** · 11 May 2003, 21:26 (Ref:596347)

From what I saw of him at Knockhill today he didn't put one wheel wrong during the race at all and appeared to just stroll off into the distance as well. I'd say he's capable of taking the title - certainly looks mature enough in his driving.

piquetfan · 11 May 2003, 21:51 (Ref:596372)

The problem is that all circuits are new to him and the team. Tis weekend things worked fine, but last week (as it rained in the days before the race) they were lost. But the kid is good.

By the way, can we watch the races on the TV? Touringlegend, did you actually go to Knockhill?

Cheers

DavidStHubbins · 11 May 2003, 22:33 (Ref:596407)

Yeah he can win it! It's a about time he started winning though...

PIQUETPOWERRRRR

Flavio · 11 May 2003, 22:58 (Ref:596428)

Quote:

Originally posted by Russfeld
He should, he's the most experienced driver in the field

I don't know much about the others drivers of the F3-UK, but I think Nelsinho is one of the less experienced drivers... He started in single seaters in 2001 when he did 4 races on F3-Sudam. In 2002 he did the entire F3-Sudam season becoming the champion. Before, just kart championships...

DieRitter · 12 May 2003, 00:39 (Ref:596490)

Even though I'm a huge fan of F1... from the time we had the likes of Lauda, Prost, Piquet, Rosberg, Mansell and Senna... I usually don't pay much attention to F3...

But hey... this Piquet Jr has everything to go all the way to F1... No matter how much testing he's done in South America... the guy is quicker than anyone else despite of not knowing the tracks... and see, his team is also a rookie in the UK... what else to say?

His dad wasn't the quickest... but was one of the brightest in F1... technically the best in my opinion (a great car developer) If this boy is as good... we might see amazing things

**touringlegend** · 12 May 2003, 16:09 (Ref:597066)

Quote:

Originally posted by piquetfan
By the way, can we watch the races on the TV? Touringlegend, did you actually go to Knockhill?

Yep, sure did, tis my local circuit. I think it was much busier than last year and it wasn't even as good a day - somewhere around 8-10,000 people about.

As for TV - it's on on Saturday mornings (sometime about 7am) if you're in the UK on Channel 4.

piquetfan · 12 May 2003, 16:18 (Ref:597079)

Quote:

Originally posted by touringlegend
Yep, sure did, tis my local circuit. I think it was much busier than last year and it wasn't even as good a day - somewhere around 8-10,000 people about.

As for TV - it's on on Saturday mornings (sometime about 7am) if you're in the UK on Channel 4.

Thanks! From what you said, I suppose Channel 4 shows the races the week after they occur, so next Saturday I'll be watching rounds 7-8.

Thanks again.

Ian Sowman · 12 May 2003, 18:31 (Ref:597210)

I believe the official crowd figure was 6,000.

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