Nelson Piquet Junior has revealed that he turned down the opportunity to fill axed Spyker racer Christijan Albers’ car for the rest of the season.
The young Brazilian is managed and supported by Renault boss Flavio Briatore’s management company, and he was seriously linked with the seat that is still up for grabs to the highest bidder.
Piquet Jr, who turns 22 on Wednesday, told Auto Motor und Sport that his triple world championship-winning father urged him to jump at the chance to race.
“But with that car you could only lose,” he said.
“It is clearly difficult to drive, and (Adrian) Sutil knows it off by heart already. I would be last until I caught up to his experience level.
“In the meantime my market value could be destroyed, because unfortunately in this game, the people are very short-sighted.”