Piquet hopes to live up to his father's name in his second season in the sport

"He may be the son of three-time world champion Nelson Piquet but it is a case of zero points for Nelson Jr in 2009.

"It must have been a hard decision for Renault to decide whether to keep him in the car or not.

"Piquet has gone through all the pain of learning in his rookie 2008 season and he does not threaten Alonso who is the kingpin at Renault.

"It is frustrating watching Piquet - he's got the pedigree, the looks and the presentation and you are almost willing the results to come, but they haven't and they probably won't in the future."

What three words would you use to describe what it's like to be a Formula One driver?
Exciting, demanding and inborn.

What is the biggest perk of the job?
I get to visit a lot of nice places in the world, stay in nice hotels and I've got a British Airways gold card!

How would you like to be remembered as an F1 driver?
As a world champion like my father.

What is your most embarrassing sporting moment?
Maybe stalling on the grid from pole position in Spa when I was competing in Formula 3000.

Who is the worst dressed Formula One driver?
Adrian Sutil

Ayrton Senna or Alain Prost?
Senna

Spa or Monaco?
Spa. I love that track and I won my first GP2 race there so it holds some good memories for me.

PIQUET STATS & FACTS Team: Renault Team-mate: Fernando Alonso Car number: 8 Nationality: Brazilian Born: 25/07/1985, Heidelberg, Germany Grand Prix debut: Australia 2007 Grands Prix entered: 28 Highest race finish: 2nd Podiums: 1 Points: 19

If you weren't an F1 driver what would you be?
I would still want to be involved in the sport and as I've run my own team before in F3 and GP2, I would maybe want to go into team management or marketing.

Who is the greatest sportsman of all time?
Muhammad Ali.

What would be your perfect day off?
A day on the beach.

Where is your favourite place to go on holiday?
I love to go back to Brazil to see my family and head to the beach to relax.

Apart from a house what is the most expensive thing that you own?
My old F3 car.

What is your favourite item of clothing?
I have so many clothes there isn't an answer to that question. I'm a big fan of Prada though.

What is your favourite music to drive to?
I listen to a lot of dance music, some Brazilian and international DJs but I have a 160GB iPod with a lot of different music on it

Which famous person - dead or alive - would you like to have dinner with and why?
Paul Newman. I think he was a special person who had such an interesting career in both films and racing.

I would have loved the opportunity to talk to him about his life and career

Tell us something about yourself that most F1 fans might not know
I'm single but I'm very shy so I welcome approaches from cute girls.

Steve McQueen or Paul Newman?
Paul Newman.

Boxers or briefs?
Briefs.

Angelina Jolie or Keira Knightley?
Angelina Jolie.

James Bond or Austin Powers?
James Bond - he has better cars.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version