Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet Jr. for Renault in 2009 :Confirmed

Spanish Formula 1 driver and former double World Champion 'Fernando Alonso' and his 2008 teamate at Renault 'Nelson Piquet Jr.' were confirmed for the racing seat for 2009 in the French outfit 'Team Renault F1' yesterday. Nelson Piquet Jr. has signed an contract for 1 season(2009) with Renault whereas quite surprisingly Alonso signed an 2yr deal with Renault,which means he is confirmed to drive for Renault for 2 consecutive seasons '2009' and '2010'. 2008 season was an rather roller-coaster ride for Renault and Alonso together,with an forgettable start to the season but an quite an brilliant end to the season with Alonso securing two concecutive (lucky) wins at Singapore and Fuji with an podium at the Final Race at Brazil with an second place finish! Alonso was quite happy with his team 'Renault' and the recent developments in the car. Alonso was seen matching the pace of Ferrari F2008 in his renault during the chinese gp.

Friday-2nd Practise session timings-Hungaroring-Budapest-ING Hungarian GP 2008

1	22	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:20.554		35
2	6	Nelsinho Piquet	Renault	1:20.748	0.194	38
3	23	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:20.760	0.206	33
4	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:20.928	0.374	35
5	1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:21.009	0.455	36
6	2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:21.010	0.456	36
7	3	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	1:21.138	0.584	46
8	4	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	1:21.363	0.809	36
9	11	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:21.505	0.951	42
10	7	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	1:21.581	1.027	34
11	12	Timo Glock	Toyota	1:21.662	1.108	39
12	10	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:21.733	1.179	43
13	9	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	1:21.837	1.283	34
14	8	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	1:21.902	1.348	33
15	14	Sebastien Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	1:21.955	1.401	41
16	16	Jenson Button	Honda	1:22.150	1.596	41
17	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	1:22.197	1.643	36
18	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	1:22.358	1.804	37
19	17	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	1:22.448	1.894	33
20	15	Sebastian Vettel	STR-Ferrari	1:22.945	2.391	5

Friday-1st Practise session timings-Hungaroring-Budapest-ING Hungarian GP 2008

1	2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:20.981		19
2	1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:21.345	0.364	21
3	23	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:21.410	0.429	17
4	22	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:21.535	0.554	18
5	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:21.802	0.821	18
6	12	Timo Glock	Toyota	1:21.931	0.950	22
7	4	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	1:22.267	1.286	18
8	6	Nelsinho Piquet	Renault	1:22.326	1.345	19
9	3	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	1:22.370	1.389	22
10	11	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:22.457	1.476	25
11	10	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:22.654	1.673	23
12	9	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	1:22.700	1.719	16
13	14	Sebastien Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	1:22.900	1.919	26
14	16	Jenson Button	Honda	1:22.917	1.936	27
15	17	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	1:23.093	2.112	26
16	7	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	1:23.147	2.166	21
17	8	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	1:23.274	2.293	22
18	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	1:23.353	2.372	25
19	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	1:23.459	2.478	28
20	15	Sebastian Vettel	STR-Ferrari	1:23.923	2.942	4

Piquet-Still Junior????

The Brazilian newcomer secured his maiden podium at Hockenheim nearly two weeks ago, but Alan Jones, the 1980 world champion, and British driver Derek Warwick, are still not convinced of Piquet's talents at the wheel of the 2008 Renault. "Compared to the achievements of other drivers such as Raikkonen, Massa, Kubica, Alonso or Hamilton, Piquet has delivered too little," Warwick, who contested more than 160 Grand Prix in the 80s and 90s, is quoted as saying by Die Welt. In the 80s, 23-year-old Piquet's father and namesake won three drivers' world championships. Australian Alan Jones, the title winner in 1980 - 13 points ahead of Piquet Snr - is also unimpressed with Piquet Jr's performances so far alongside Fernando Alonso. "In Piquet's (Snr) first season in 1979, he had his own team-mate Niki Lauda, also a twice world champion then, until control," Jones remarked.
Jones said of Piquet Jr: "He's a good driver, but the strength, the determination, the aggression, not to mention the outstanding talent of his father, seem to me to be missing." Piquet, always with his father's status, support and money behind him in his formative racing days, has endured his fair share of criticism as he struggled in the R28 in 2008. But Pat Symonds, Renault's engineering chief, thinks the Hockenheim podium might have been a turning point. "Very often when a driver has had a difficult start to their career, they get a good result and after that nothing seems to stop them," he said. Symonds continued: "It's fair to say that he has found the pressure quite difficult this year, but the result in Hockenheim is the perfect response from him."

2008 german Gp-hockenhiem,Race Results

1	22	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	67	1:31:20.874	1	10
2	6	Nelsinho Piquet	Renault	67	+5.5 secs	17	8
3	2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	67	+9.3 secs	2	6
4	3	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	67	+9.8 secs	12	5
5	23	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	67	+12.4 secs	3	4
6	1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	67	+14.4 secs	6	3
7	4	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	67	+22.6 secs	7	2
8	15	Sebastian Vettel	STR-Ferrari	67	+33.2 secs	9	1
9	11	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	67	+37.1 secs	4
10	7	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	67	+37.6 secs	13
11	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	67	+38.6 secs	5
12	14	Sebastien Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	67	+39.1 secs	15
13	9	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	67	+54.9 secs	10
14	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	67	+59.0 secs	20
15	8	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	67	+60.0 secs	16
16	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	67	+69.4 secs	19
17	16	Jenson Button	Honda	66	+1 Lap	14
Ret	17	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	50	Accident damage	18
Ret	10	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	40	Oil leak	8
Ret	12	Timo Glock	Toyota	35	Accident	11