Hamburg - Nelson Piquet Jr described Monday how his dream of being a Formula One driver turned into a "nightmare" at Renault when he found himself "at the mercy" of team principal Flavio Briatore. In a statement on his website Piquet said that under Briatore he found himself in no position to refuse to take part in a plan to crash his car at the Singapore Grand Prix last year.
The Renault Formula One team team was Monday handed a race ban, suspended for two years, for conspiring to cause the crash in order to enable Piquet's team-mate Fernando Alonso to win the race.
Piquet, the son of former world champion Nelson Piquet, has escaped sanctions in the race-fix scandal for agreeing to give evidence to world motorsport governing body FIA.
"The most positive thing to come from bringing this to the attention of the FIA is that nothing like it will ever happen again," Piquet Jr said.
"I bitterly regret my actions to follow the orders I was given. I wish every day that I had not done it."
The 24-year-old Brazilian added: "I don't know how far my explanation will go to making people understand because for many being a racing driver is an amazing privilege, as it was for me.
"All I can tell you is that my situation at Renault turned into a nightmare. Having dreamed of being a Formula One driver and having worked so hard to get there, I found myself at the mercy of Mr Briatore.
"His true character, which had previously only been known to those he had treated like this in the past, is now known."
Briatore, 59, who left the team last week along with chief engineer Patrick Symonds, has been effectively excluded from motorsport in Monday's ruling by FIA's World Motor Council.
FIA will refuse to sanction any events or issue a licence to any driver associated with the Italian for an unlimited period.
"Mr Briatore was my manager as well as the team boss, he had my future in his hands but he cared nothing for it," Piquet said.
"By the time of the Singapore GP he had isolated me and driven me to the lowest point I had ever reached in my life.
"Now that I am out of that situation I cannot believe that I agreed to the plan, but when it was put to me I felt that I was in no position to refuse.
"Listening now to Mr Briatore's reaction to my crash and hearing the comments he has made to the press over the last two weeks it is clear to me that I was simply being used by him then to be discarded and left to ridicule."
Piquet said he realized he would have to restart his Formula One career from the beginning.
"I can only hope that a team will recognize how badly I was stifled at Renault and give me an opportunity to show what I promised in my career in F3 and GP2.
"What can be assured is that there will be no driver in Formula One as determined as me to prove myself," he said.
