Piquet: My son is not a bad F1 driver

Nelson Piquet Sr has insisted that his son is 'not a bad driver', but he concedes that the 24-year-old will struggle now to get another shot in F1 following the fall-out from crash-gate.

Piquet Jr never really shone during his one and a half seasons at the pinnacle of the sport and during his 28-race stint with Renault managed only five points finishes, his best a second place finish at the German Grand Prix in '08.

This year though he failed to make it into the points on a single occasion, and while his replacement, Romain Grosjean, has also failed to impress, the '08 Singapore Grand Prix scandal has left the youngster firmly out of the picture and many now believe he is unemployable.

Despite that however, Piquet Sr is at the Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend and trying to find a way to salvage Nelsinho's future, even if they are already weighing up other opportunities. Indeed only this week Piquet Jr tested a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Toyota Tundra at Rockingham Speedway in the USA.

"It is going to be very difficult," Piquet Sr told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport when asked how likely it is that his son will get drive in F1 in 2010. "There are reservations about him because of the Singapore-gate story.

"But people can also see by looking at his replacement Romain Grosjean that Nelsinho is not a bad driver."

Piquet Jr had been linked to 2010 F1 newcomer Campos Grand Prix in recent weeks - and the former GP2 series runner-up is adamant that he wants another go at F1 in a bid to set the record straight.

"I want to clear up this business rapidly so it doesn't stay with me for the rest of my life," Piquet Jr said in an interview with Brazil's Globo TV earlier this month.

"I need a decent team, a decent engineer - a team that believes in me. I don't know which one it will be, but I do know I will go back to racing."

Meanwhile Piquet Jr will compete in the Monaco Kart Cup this weekend, teaming up with S?rgio Jimenez and Carlos Iaconelli.