Piquet gives Lewis GP2 lesson

By James Foxall

11th August 2006

Lewis Hamilton’s bid to tie up the GP2 title was thwarted at the weekend by championship rival Nelson Piquet Jun­ior. The Brazilian became the first driver in the series’ short history to pick up maximum points at an event – by winning both rounds in Hungary and taking the point awarded for fastest lap.

Hamilton failed to score in the first showdown after being penalised for speeding in the pitlane, but finished second in race two at the Hungaroring.

Despite this, Piquet slashed Lewis’s lead at the top of the overall standings to 11 points with two events remaining – then slammed his bitter rival for his error-strewn performance. Piquet said: “I don’t think Hamilton had trouble, but he made some silly mistakes, like spinning in qualifying, crashing in prac­tice and speeding in the pits in the race. There were a lot of errors this weekend.

“He could have easily started ahead of me today, and then held me up for the whole race, if it wasn’t for the mistakes he made.” There was further disappointment for the Brits in the series when Adam Carroll, the early leader in the second showdown, spun off in the treacherous conditions. The Northern Irishman had brought his car home in seventh in the first round.