Renault’s top brass singled out Nelson Piquet Jr for high praise after the under-pressure Brazilian scored a remarkable first podium finish at Hockenheim.
Piquet endured a troubled first half to his rookie Formula 1 season with several mistakes and consistently poor qualifying form hampering the team’s challenge for fourth place in the constructors’ challenge.
But after taking advantage of the mid-race safety car to claim the squad’s first podium of 2008 with second place, despite starting 17th on the grid, Renault was delighted to be able to hail its young protégé.
"Nelson had an amazing race,” said team boss Flavio Briatore.
“He proved to be very fast towards the end of the race and was able to remain strong under enormous pressure.
“He was not able to hold off [Lewis] Hamilton who was much faster, but he was able to defend his second place strongly.
“I am delighted for him and for the team who really deserve this result."
Piquet had just made his single fuel stop when the safety car was deployed which allowed him to jump up the order – a gift engineering chief Pat Symonds believes the team deserved after opting to put the Brazilian on a long first stint.
And while he could do nothing to stop Lewis Hamilton claiming victory after inheriting the lead, Symonds described Piquet’s performance as flawless in those closing laps as he comfortably finished ahead of Felipe Massa’s Ferrari.
"Today we were lucky, but I still believe we made our own luck and our decision to go long with Nelson paid off as the safety car came out at the ideal moment!" Symonds said.
“Nelson's driving after that was impeccable. He was under pressure and did everything we asked of him.
“I'd like to congratulate him and hope this is the start of a better time for him.”
While Piquet’s fortunes improved as the 67-lap race developed, his team-leading stable-mate Fernando Alonso’s nosedived on a frustrating afternoon for the former world champion.
After starting a fine fifth, the Spaniard lost out in a number of wheel-to-wheel dices, vented his frustration with Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel after claiming the German had pushed him across the white line on the exit of the pit lane, before spinning at the hairpin late on.
Unsurprisingly he was keen to forget his 11th place finish as quickly as possible.
“"That was a difficult race for me,” Alonso said.
“I had a bad start and lost several positions. Then I was on the pace but it was difficult to recover.
“I think that we were simply out of luck today, but we must now look forward and concentrate on the next grand prix."
Nevertheless Piquet’s eight points moved Renault ahead of Williams to sixth place in the constructors’ championship and just two points behind fourth-placed Toyota.