Formula One news

Symonds confident Piquet will come good

Renault engineering chief Pat Symonds is confident that his rookie driver Nelson Piquet Jr will bounce back from a difficult first third of the season. Piquet has been the subject of growing speculation after a string of difficult races.

"His confidence is suffering a little bit, but we hope to see him bounce back soon - he's definitely got the ability and we've already seen he's got the speed," Symondsa said. "He just needs to restore his self-confidence and that is something we will help him do."

Looking at how his team has developed this season, Symonds added, "The most positive thing is that we've shown our rate of development can exceed that of the other teams. We've pulled ourselves up the field in the first third of the season and there's every reason to think that we can keep improving. I'm not saying that we will be challenging for pole position and wins, but I certainly think that we've got plans in place that should allow us to out-develop those around us, which should help us get closer to challenging the BMWs and the McLarens in the next part of the season."

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