Being the son of a former world champion is tough. Expectations are normally unreasonable and any minor failure can be blown out of proportion. Surely, Nelson Piquet Jr. is aware of this and his demeanour – calm, collected and composed – will help him a lot in his debut season as he prepares to step into the shoes that his father left.

Born in 1985 to former three-time world champion, he started racing at the young age of 8. In 1993, Piquet Jr was racing in the Brazilian carting circuit and the rise to Formula 1 has been gradual. In 2001, Piquet Jr started racing for Formula 3 Sudamericana, his father’s team. There was an aspect of his life that some could argue he had it easy. Coming from a privileged background, he seemed destined to race in F1 no matter what. And his father’s wealth ensured that was easily achieved. But to rise beyond your father’s team and be picked by a team like Renault, there must be talent and he displayed a lot of that in the years leading up to his entry into F1.

Since 2003, Piquet Jr has been moving around the world circuits garnering precious experience. In 2004, Piquet Jr won the British Formula 3 Championship. He also became the youngest driver to have ever won the title at just 19 years and 2 months of age. Soon enough, Formula 1 came calling and he went on to test for BMW Williams (now Williams F1).

Piquet Jr’s entry to F1 was formalised in 2007 when he joined Renault as the test driver. He has been chosen ahead of Heikki Kovalainen (who moved to McLaren) as the second driver for Renault to ensure that Alonso isn’t challenged within the team. But Piquet Jr will definitely want to make a point or two through the season. While it is unlikely that he would have a season similar to Lewis Hamilton’s debut season, it can’t be entirely ruled out. Renault has been working hard on their car and it was indeed Fernando Alonso who was alongside Hamilton in his debut season!

Piquet Jr may not come with as high a reputation as Hamilton did, but he does have a good chance of scoring some points. His mandate, however, in his debut season could well be to let Alonso lead the way.

Irrespective of what his mandate for 2008 was, Piquet proved to be an enthusiastic, yet erratic driver. With 8 retirements through the season compared to three for team-mate Alonso (there was only one race in which Alonso retired but Piquet didn’t), the jury was out for Piquet at the end of the season. The verdict seemed that he needed more time before he was ready for F1. Luckily for him, though, he has won back the seat for 2009, but will require far greater resolve and discipline than he showed in 2008 to keep it going. Yes, he scored 19 points and was second in Germany, but that is far outweighed by his brashness and apparent lack of discipline. 2009 could well be his biggest test in F1. And it’s just his second season.