F1: Renault rev up for Valencia as Grosjean steps into number two seat

The decision to ban Renault for a race was, on any sensible reading, an excessive reaction. Yes, a wheel flying off a car was highly dangerous but motor racing is, and mistakes are made. The FIA has made the correct decision: it has fined the team USD50,000 for the pit-lane cock up that saw Alonso's car shed first an aero disk from the right front wheel and then the wheel itself. Now Renault feel they can say who will replace the sacked Piquet: it's their test driver and GP2 driver Romain Grosjean. He's an interesting mix of driver: sometimes displaying genius, other times being a hopeless hothead. But on balace, he gets the job done more than he doesn't. That is something Renault feel Piquet consisently failed to do.Piquet's position at the team highlighted a conflict: the team boss Flavio Briatore, is also Piquet's manager. Piquet alleges that this conflict spilled over into clear threats, shortly before each race, with Briatore and others telling him that if he didn't get a good result, he would be replaced - despite, he says, "having has the best debut year of a Brazilian driver in Formula One."He claims he was consistently handicapped by being given a worse car than Alsonso. Piquet is positioning himself for a drive with another team where his experience may be appreciated. And with new teams joining next year he may succeed. And there are persistent rumours that he may have the last laugh after all: Renault is still looking for a major sponsor for last year and Renault the car company is not convinced that F1 is providing as much value for money as it should. It's possible that the team might not be on the grid for 2010.