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Watch out Hamilton

The first time that the Jungle team interviewed Nelson Piquet Jr., four years ago, he was sat down, wearing a t-shirt and ripped jeans, playing on a Playstation in the luxurious office of his manager in London. Glued to the screen, with car engines roaring through the speakers, he was already training to become a Formula 1 driver. At the time, the then-F3 racing driver was only 18 and had a clear goal: to become, like his father before him, a champion of one of the most important racing events in the world. “Without a doubt, this is my major goal. But I prefer to take things one step at a time”, he revealed. “There’s a lot more pressure in Formula 1. I could end up burning out quickly and lose races because of a lack of experience”.

Now, at 22 years of age and after sticking to his guns, Nelsinho is fi nally beginning to reap the rewards of all his hard work. After being a test driver for Renault during 2007, he’s been offi cially announced as the team’s new driver for the 2008 season. The Brasilian will team up with Spaniard Fernando Alonso and has already declared on his site how pleased he is to be part of the team. “It’s a fantastic opportunity to start out in Formula 1 on one of the best teams in the category, alongside one of the best racers. I’ve worked non-stop to achieve this and I’m happy that all my effort has convinced them and helped me earn my place”.

The director of the team, Flávio Briatore, is full of praise for the Brasilian: “Nelson is, without a doubt, one of the most promising young talents in motor sports at the moment. He spent a year training as a test driver, getting to grips with the equipment, and now he’s ready to progress to a
more advanced stage”.

By the looks of things, Nelsinho won’t be needing his Playstation anymore; his Formula 1 dreams have become a reality. Perhaps sometime soon, we’ll be the ones sitting at home playing as Nelson Piquet on our video consoles, dreaming in turn of being an F1 racing driver… JD