[Archive 2009-08-04] Formula One: Renault dismisses Piquet, Schumacher barred from practising

Historical archive — originally published 2009-08-04. This report records what was known on that date. It is not current news; subsequent events may have changed the situation. Wikinews closed in May 2026.

Formula One racing team Renault F1 has dismissed Nelson Piquet, Jr., whose father Nelson Piquet, Sr. won the world championship three times, after his failure to obtain any points this season. WilliamsF1 have separately announced that they will not allow Michael Schumacher to practise with the current car of rival Scuderia Ferrari as he returns after nearly three years of absence.

Piquet and Renault are both looking to move ahead. Piquet is seeking a new team, while it is unknown who Renault will hire to replace Piquet.

Schumacher, meanwhile, will not get behind the wheel of the current Ferrari car until his first race since coming out of retirement, the European Grand Prix on August 23 in Valencia, Spain. Ferrari had written to the sport's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), as well as the other eight members of the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) hoping to have him exempted from a ban on in-season testing.

Schumacher's last F1 race was in 2006. Since confirming his comeback he has had a chance to practise in a 2007 Ferrari race car, but new technology featured on the modern version remains unused by Schumacher.

Seven members of the FOTA agreed Schumacher should be exempted but Williams saw no reason to do so. Williams pointed out that 19-year-old F1 newcomer Jaime Alguersuari got no chance to practise with a modern F1 car before his first race.

Schumacher, seven-times world champion, has returned to his old team to fill in for Felipe Massa, who suffered life-threatening head injuries after striking a spring which had detached itself from Rubens Barrichello's Brawn GP car. Massa was flown back home to Brazil today and said he was looking forward to life returning to normal, as well as to racing his Ferrari F1 car again. He remembers nothing of his high-speed crash.

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