Renault driver Nelson Piquet is not the only rookie driver finishing his debut season in the sport this weekend, however he is the only rookie to complete the year in front of his home fans. Unlike the rest of the Brazilian drivers, Nelson has very little knowledge of the Interlagos circuit, however, he is hoping to put on a strong show for his loyal fans and the team, to help enable his remaining in place for the 2009 championship season.

Nelson, what are your experiences of the Interlagos track? How much racing have you done here?

To be honest not much. It is going to be like arriving at the track like I arrived in Australia or China. I did one race with my father back in 2005 if I remember. It was in an Aston Martin in a 12-hour race and that was it. When I started my F3 career here the first season we didn’t have any races here and then I went straight to England, so I don’t have much experience but I think motivation and the crowd will help me.

You have had some good races recently. What chances do you think you have of holding onto the seat next year?

I think I have a good chance. The team is quite happy. I mean all the boys are on my side, so I don’t see any reasons why I would be under threat. It has been a tough season obviously but I am learning a lot and improving a lot and discovering a lot of new things. It has been a tough year but I am sure we will be okay.

So you are quite hopeful or confident would you say?

Confident.

I would like to ask you your opinion about Felipe and what do you think about his mission impossible this weekend?

I think anything’s possible, as we saw last year with Kimi winning the championship. I think Felipe has done a very good job this year. As David said, he has been improving a lot and he showed this year that he’s clearly also fighting for the title. He has one of the best cars and he has been driving very well. If I had to quote odds as to who will win the race, I think Felipe has more of a chance of winning the race – being at home, knowing the track very well and being very confident here. He has already won a race here and he knows it would make everybody very happy here if he won the race. But Lewis will also be very strong, probably as quick as Felipe. Basically Lewis will have to take it very calmly the whole weekend. He doesn’t need to push for anything, he just needs to score a few points and that’s it. At the end of the story, we don’t know if it’s going to rain or if it’s going to be dry. It can be a hectic race on Sunday. I think both of them have done a very good job this year. They both deserve it, so I think it’s just up to Sunday when we see what’s going to happen.

I know you’ve been asked about this loads and loads of times during this week but now since you’re all together and you’re just behind the contenders, I would like to know whether you’re willing to do something to help Felipe Massa in this race, or if this is not an issue for you?

Obviously there’s not much we can do really. This is all racing, we have to treat this race as if it was the first race of the season. Probably both of them are going to be in a different league to us, their cars are a bit quicker than ours. Obviously I don’t want to get in the way of the championship, I’m not going to take sides. I think both of them have been fighting for it for the whole year and I think they should take the championship as everybody else has done it over the past fifty years. There’s nothing I can do, it’s them and their cars and we have to race as if it was a normal race.

Nelson, two years ago you were in a very similar situation to Felipe today, in that you were going to the last round of a season and you needed to catch up to Lewis to win the title. Can you just talk us through your mindset then and maybe give us a window into what Felipe must be going through now, as to how you tried to beat Lewis in the last round of a season, knowing that you’ve got to do all you can and hope that he messes up.

I don’t remember much of it, because you tend to remember only the good times and obviously I entered that weekend trying to win the championship. Obviously I knew I had to do well in both races at Monza and unfortunately it wasn’t very good. In the first race, I think I finished second and Lewis third, I don’t remember very well, and Giorgio (Pantano) won and the only chance I had… I think Lewis won the race… was it the first race already? The only thing I could do in the last race was tie with him in the championship or something like that, so I just pushed. There’s nothing much you can do really. You have to enter the weekend as a normal weekend. If you start entering the weekend with different thoughts or different methods or a different way of thinking, it should not be. It’s like every weekend. Every weekend you enter a race to win, to try to do your best, to try to perform, to try to be at your top level and it’s not because it’s a championship-deciding weekend, that you’re going to enter it differently. Obviously you have a bit more pressure but I think the driver that manages to keep it the calmest and keep it the most natural possible, they’re going to do the best job.