Piquet praised for 'amazing' German GP.

Nelsinho Piquet has been lauded by his Renault team after producing the drive of his fledgling Formula 1 career to finish up on the podium in the German Grand Prix - from all the way down in 17th spot on the starting grid.

The Brazilian rookie had blamed traffic for missing the Q2 cut on Saturday afternoon - less than two tenths of a second shy of double F1 World Champion team-mate Fernando Alonso, who ultimately went on to qualify fifth - after displaying encouraging pace throughout practice and on the back of greatly improved performances in the last two outings at Magny-Cours and Silverstone, the former yielding his maiden points in the top flight.

Though he made little impression early on whilst on a heavy fuel load, the timing of the safety car brought out for Timo Glock's dramatic accident in the Toyota would prove to be perfect for Piquet, who was promoted into the lead of the race in the closing stages.

Whilst he was ultimately unable to hold off charging former GP2 Series title rival Lewis Hamilton, he would prove more than a match for the following Felipe Massa in the Ferrari - thereby thoroughly deserving his rostrum finish.

"I am obviously very happy!" the 22-year-old enthused, all-the-more so no doubt given his troubled start to the campaign, that had led some to wonder how much longer he had left in F1 "After qualifying yesterday I was thinking my weekend was over, but we opted for an aggressive strategy in the race and the team made some great decisions when the safety car came out.

"Then I had to concentrate to keep my pace up and look after my tyres as much as possible towards the end of the race. I knew Lewis was much faster than me, so I did not want to take any pointless risks. This second place today is a great reward for the whole team."

Piquet also received warm words of congratulation from both the R?gie's managing director Flavio Briatore and executive director of engineering Pat Symonds, his showing vindicating their continued faith in him in recent months, delivering the Enstone-based outfit its long-awaited first podium of the season and bringing the team to within just two points of its target fourth position in the constructors' title chase.

"Nelson had an amazing race," stated Briatore. "He proved to be very fast towards the end of the race and was able to remain strong under enormous pressure. He was not able to hold off Hamilton who was much faster, but he was able to defend his second place strongly. I am delighted for him and for the team who really deserve this result."

"Today we were lucky," acknowledged Symonds, "but I still believe we made our own luck, and our decision to go long with Nelson paid off as the safety car came out at the ideal moment!

"Nelson's driving after that was impeccable. He was under pressure and did everything we asked of him. I'd like to congratulate him and hope this is the start of a better time for him."