Former Renault F1 driver Nelson Piquet has criticised both Lotus drivers, branding Romain Grosjean ‘lucky’ and Kimi Raikkonen ‘weak’.
The 27-year-old says Grosjean, who replaced Piquet at Renault in 2009, has only stood out this season because he’s been paired with a weak team-mate in the form of Raikkonen who returned to F1 this year after a two-year absence.
“He has got a lot of luck, [which has] come at a time when his team-mate is a little weak and has a very good car,” Piquet told TotalRace.
“His luck is that he was not doing well in F1, another season of GP2, landed a sponsorship deal and returned to F1 paying, right? Then things went right for, how do you say, in his career. The timing was very good for him.”
The Brazilian, who was paired with Fernando Alonso during his tenure at the Enstone outfit between 2008 and 2009, believes his former team-mate would be doing a better job than Lotus’s current line-up.
“If they had Alonso there, they would be winning the championship with that car,” he added. “Sure he [Grosjean] has improved a lot since the last time, but there he is no phenomenon. He’s nothing compared to Alonso.”
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