Nelson Piquet Jr. (right) will make his testing debut for Renault next week at Silverstone.

After being announced as a 2007 Renault F1 Team test driver prior to last week's Italian Grand Prix, Nelsinho Piquet (as he is known in Brazil to distinguish him from his three-time world champion father) will get his first taste of the Renault F1 R26 next week at Silverstone during the final test of the 2006 season. Nelsinho will be driving alongside 2007 Renault F1 Team race driver Heikki Kovalainen.

2006 GP2 Series runner-up Piquet will participate in all three days of the Silverstone test, acclimatising himself to the Renault car, to the team and to its working methods. Although weather forecasts currently remain unpredictable for next week, should conditions allow he will also begin working on the team's technical development programmes.

Prior to driving the car for the first time, Nelsinho today made his first visit to the team's Enstone base to conduct a seat fitting, learn about the car, and meet the team.

Commenting on the prospect of his first test with the F1 world champions, he said: "I am really looking forward to my first test next week with Renault. I like Silverstone very much and I have driven there a lot so it's good that I don't have to worry about learning the track, I can just focus on the car. I am happy that I am getting three full days of testing because it will be more car time than any other F1 car I've driven, and I am looking forward to driving a front-running car like the R26 for the first time. It will be a great chance to learn as much as I can and get to know everybody at the team."