This is F1Minute for the 17th July 2009.

Renault have confirmed that they will be keeping Piquet in the car for Hungary, with the rumours seemingly coming from the fact there’s a performance clause in the Brazilian’s contract that could have seen him out after Germany. However, he will be there, and he’s looking to improve his performance, saying: “I should have the same upgrades as Fernando in Hungary and I think I can be more competitive. As always I will be aiming to qualify in the top ten and hopefully score some points in the race.”

Meanwhile, following Martin Whitmarsh’s optimism yesterday that McLaren could go for the win at the next race, he has also confirmed that the team will be running KERS for the rest of the season. He said: “The alternative strategy is to redesign the whole car without KERS and that takes a lot of resource and detracts from next year’s programme so we have a KERS package that works.” He adds that the team, and particularly Mercedes, do think KERS is a worthwhile investment, but are happy to drop it next year along with the other teams.

That’s it for now, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1Minute.