Giancarlo Fisichella has not escaped Flavio Briatore’s acid tongue in the Renault chief’s critique of the Australian grand prix.
Italian Briatore, 56, prominently hit out at rookie Heikki Kovalainen’s maiden performance at Albert Park and that of lethargic backmarkers, but it now emerges that even veteran Fisichella was not given the all-clear by Renault’s flamboyant boss.
Roman Fisichella qualified sixth for the 2007 season opener and finished more than a minute behind the winner in fifth place.
“By the second half of the race Giancarlo was already in the hotel,” Briatore is quoted as saying by German specialist magazine Auto Motor und Sport.
Perhaps notably, test driver Nelson Piquet Jr – and not the more experienced Ricardo Zonta – was in Australia as Renault’s official reserve driver and he watched the entire race from the pit wall.
The young Brazilian will also test for at least one full day in Malaysia next week, we have learned.
