Nelson Piquet Senior was a real character when I raced against him in Formula 3 back in the seventies.
Blindingly quick on track and hilarious fun off it, he was the sort of guy you could race wheel to wheel with for 30 laps and then hang out with afterwards.
We had plenty of battles on track and on the table tennis table and he was a doughty competitor who married steely resolve, innate natural talent and an impish sense of humour into an irresistible package that was always going to find its true outlet in Grand Prix racing.
Sadly, though, his son Nelson Junior has not inherited all of the genes that helped his father to three world championships. In a season and a bit at Renault he has regularly flattered only to deceive and, indeed on other occasions, not really even flattered.
He was a very strong Formula 3 and GP2 driver but Nelsinho, who was always markedly more withdrawn and introverted in comparison to his father, has cut a dour figure in the Formula 1 paddock since Flavio Briatore promoted him to a seat alongside Fernando Alonso last year.
If the object of the exercise was to provide Fernando with a threat-free team-mate, it has worked a treat, but surely Piquet should be a little closer to Alonso than he has been, a la Heikki Kovalainen at McLaren.
Either way Nelson does not appear to be enjoying the experience and it must be eating him up from the inside out to have to get a pasting from his team-mate week in, week out, with no obvious sign of any light at the end of the tunnel.
His driving is surely suffering and it is not doing his career any good. Better that Briatore should cut him loose and let's see if he can reinvent himself in sportscars or perhaps make a Formula 1 comeback in the manner of Johnny Herbert, with the same squad when it was known as Benetton back in the eighties.
Either way it would be better for both parties to call it quits for the time being and I suspect Romain Grosjean, the reserve driver practically twitching with excitement and anticipation on the pit wall lately, would have been in the car already were not Briatore, Pat Symonds et al worried by the lack of testing that he has had in a F1 car.
Zero seat time for rookies because of the testing ban is an unfortunate side effect of Max Mosley's budget cuts and could lead to an inordinate number of journeymen, and has-beens hanging onto F1 seats beyond their personal sell by dates.
I hope that it does not prevent talent like Adam Carroll's blossoming and receiving its true reward in F1 machinery, as I'm told that he has been the subject of enquiries from one or two F1 teams for next year.
Speaking of which, let's wish Adam and all the A1 team Ireland squad the very best as they go in search of the holy grail of a first A1GP World Cup of Motorsport title in Brands Hatch this weekend.
With a two point lead over Switzerland when dropped scores are taken into account, it couldn't be more finely balanced for Ireland but they're sure to have a big crowd of Irish there to support them on Sunday. Best of luck to all.