World Series, here I come (again)!

Image: automobilsport.com

For the past two years now, I have been an attendee of the British leg of the Renault World Series, which to motorsport fans and drivers is kind of like GP2 but not exactly as well known or popular. But it's still spawned Heikki Kovalainen, Robert Kubica and Sebastian Vettel as F1 stars, so it must be doing something right! But still, this is an event that is a great place for any motorsports fan in general to attend. Simple answer - it's free! Yup, that's not a typo. Renault genuinely do give away tickets to these events absolutely free. Who doesn't love a free day out anyways?

So what's it all about? What can you actually see there? Well for a start, there's the main event which are the 2 World Series races of course (1 on Saturday and 1 on Sunday). Then to go alongside that, there's a full program of support races from the Clio Cup, Formula Renault and my personal favourite, the Megane Trophy. Have you seen one of those things?! It's quite simply, as I put it, a standard Renault Megane that's overdosed on steroids. It's such an awesome looking car with huge flared wheel arches, a massive protruding rear wing and a chassis so low to the ground it's unbelieveable. Couple all that to the same howling V6 that the WSR racers use and it's literally heaven on wheels in my book. I absolutely adore the series and the new car, based on the new Megane Coupe, looks stunning. Cannot wait to see that this year!

Apart from the racing, you get some lovely demo runs on track as well from some historic Renault race cars from F1, Le Mans and rally. I should point out the rally car is an R5 Maxi Turbo which is usually driven by Jean Ragnotti, a rally driver and probably professional madman. The guy's skills in a rally car are simply jaw-dropping. He can literally drive a front wheel drive Clio on a rally stage like it's rear wheel drive. Search him YouTube and you'll know what I'm on about. But the big event of the day, apart from the WSR races, has to be the 2 F1 demos, usually showcasing a year old F1 machine in this season's colours. So judging by the pictures I've seen of Renault's roadshows, it's going to be an R28 in that white, yellow and orange paint scheme the current R29s are running around in.

Off track, there's a pitstop challenge, various racing simulators, a driving experience in Clios and plenty of merchandise to have a browse at. Plus, because of the open paddock at Silverstone, across the bridge and behind the pits, you can look at the teams working on the cars and take pictures. There's also a pit walk which takes place before the WSR race, but I've missed it on both occasions and I am determined not to miss it this year! In 2007 the event was held at Donington and last year and this year, as I've just mentioned, it's run at Silverstone. Another good thing is that the tickets allow you to use all of the circuits facilities, which means you can watch the on-track action from the grandstands. Last year, we watched the WSR on the back row of one of the covered grandstands on the pit straight. Lovely and cool, and just about in view of the big TV screens showing the action.

There's a few people from Sidepodcast who don't have the cash to make Goodwood, where another meet-up is going to take place I should imagine, who will be attending the World Series event too, so if you're reading this I hope to see you at some point during the day. As for me, I'll be attending with my dad and some of his friends from when he worked at Toyota, who are a riot to be with. Peter and Gareth have gone with us on both occasions and the latter is such a hilarious guy to be with, especially in the car travelling to and from the circuit. Both times on the way back he has made me laugh so much it's made me cry. That's how much fun I have at these events.

If you think a free day's racing sounds too tempting, then direct your attention to www.worldseriesbyrenault.com, click the event you're interested in, click the icon in the corner for free tickets, fill in the form and they'll be with you within 6 weeks. If you've never been, I can thoroughly recommend it if you haven't got the money to go to somewhere like Goodwood on the same weekend. A great alternative, if you ask me.

Why are you still here?

Image: GPEuropa.net

Young talent these days is never really hard to come by, especially in racing. Those who initially impress in karting and the lower formulas can find themselves staring an F1 drive in the face. Some get there just on pure talent alone, like Fernando Alonso or Kimi Raikkonen. Some have their talents nurtured and supported, such as Lewis Hamilton. But there are also those who have greatness expected of them, and it's fair to say that greatness is not what Nelson Piquet Jr. has, at any rate.

The kid impressed in GP2 and A1GP, but since he stepped into an F1 race seat last season alongside double world champion Alonso, on his return to Renault after the fallout that occured at McLaren, it's been plain to see he hasn't shown anything significant that proves he is deserving of that drive. Despite a tough start to 2008 for the team, Alonso was still able to score back to back wins in Singapore and Japan and more points than anyone else in the second half of the season. Yet all Piquet really achieved was a lucky 2nd place at Hockenheim, all down to the strategy played by his race engineer. There's that and the reputation that he is utterly useless.

I don't know what it is with some drivers but when they make the jump from F3000/GP2 to the big time, something happens and their skills either get better and go from strength to strength or just disappear. Nelson most certainly falls in the latter. So far in his tenure at the top, he hasn't had one major success. Most of the time he fails to make it out of Q1 while Fernando managed to sail into Q3, and in the race he was usually the one who either suffered reliability problems or trundled round near the back of the field spending the afternoon racing with the Force Indias. 2009 hasn't been an improvement on last season so far, as the Chinese GP just gone has shown. His shenanigans on Sunday are a prime example of why his place in that team isn't deserved. With the wet conditions, similar to those of Fuji 2007 in my opinion, making things tricky enough for everyone out there, Nelson lost the car on the approach to Turn 5, skated across the grass and gravel and into a polystyrene marker board. Funnily enough, the nose of his R29 was broken by it, questioning resilience of such a machine. Anyway, he then almost became stuck in the wet sandtrap, but managed to haul himself out. Then comes the best part - it takes him around 30 seconds to a minute just to get the car going again. The anti-stall kicks in continously until Nelson is finally able to resume racing. Honestly, it made Richard Hammond's escapades in the R25 on Top Gear look good.

As if that wasn't enough, no sooner had the team replaced the nose on his car, that just a couple of laps later he dropped the car again under braking for the last corner, damaging the nose again in the process. Flavio Briatore's body language said it all. He certainly was not impressed. But this is what puzzles all us F1 fans - if Flavio can't tolerate Piquet's antics and misfortunes, why on earth is he still in that team? My guess is that he still maintains a close relationship with his father, 3 times world champion Nelson Piquet Sr. Flav joined Benetton in 1989, the same time that Piquet began his final 3 years of his career with the team. So my guess is that not only did he build and maintain a working relationship with the guy, but also a personal one which has pretty much lead to Jr getting the testing job and then the promotion to race driver.

I don't even think they're keeping him on because of sponsorship. From what I've seen, there's no evidence of any sponsorship links between Piquet and Renault. Nelson did mention in an interview with F1 Racing that he'd known Flavio since a young age. When asked about the first F1 race he attended and what made it special he said:

"My mum was friends with Flavio and Naomi Campbell - it was in July and there was a race in Austria. I was about 14 or 15. Flavio asked me if I wanted to go and I said "Yeah, sure!" You wouldn't believe it - it was just me and him on his plane. I stayed in his room, went with him to the track and he took care of me all weekend, like a father. It was really special, a great weekend. For him to be my boss 10 years later was really strange at first."

But in the same interview, he also mentions briefly that is not all "buddy-buddy" with him either. Talking about how supportive and fair he is, he said:

"Not always. He can be really tough and you need to be able to ignore the right things, absorb the right things and be able to judge everything."

Obviously there's some things which are right that he seems to be ignoring. You see, this is what gets me about talentless namesakes like him. He quite plainly and simply does not deserve to be in F1 any more. If I were Flavio, I would have cut my ties with him at the end of 2008. The 2nd place in Germany last year wasn't earned, it was just luck of the draw. The rest of the year he spent crashing, failing to make Q2 and breaking down all the time. I don't see any logic in keeping him in the team. Everyone predicted his head would be on the F1 chopping block either before or at the end of the season. Yet he's still there. That seat could be put to better use by promoting third driver Romain Grosjean or someone like Lucas di Grassi or Bruno Senna even. It just doesn't make sense at all. Hopefully Flavio will see some soon and do the right thing for both his team and in fact the rest of the grid. Then it'll be a case of "Nelson, you are the weakest link. Goodbye..."