Renault drop Heidfeld for Senna for Spa

[PeterJB]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/default.stm

German Nick Heidfeld has been dropped by the Renault team in favour of Brazilian Bruno Senna for this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix.
Renault made a promising start to the 2011 season but their form has slipped amid rumours of funding shortages, which the team have denied.
While Heidfeld is on a salary, Senna, Renault's reserve driver, comes with several million pounds of sponsorship.

It will be Senna's first race since last season, when he drove for HRT.
The 27-year-old nephew of the late Brazilian legend Ayrton Senna is expected to race for Renault in the eight remaining races this season alongside Russian Vitaly Petrov.

Senna made his debut for HRT last season but left the team after a trying year with the struggling outfit.
Heidfeld's highs & lows

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• Made his debut in 2000 with the Prost team, scoring a best finish of eighth
• First podium finish for the Sauber team in 2001 when he came third in Brazil
• Has finished second in eight Grands Prix without winning a race
• Holds the record for scoring the most points and podiums without a race victory

He joined Renault this season in the hope that he would eventually be promoted to a race drive.
Heidfeld was drafted in by Renault before the start of the season as a replacement for the team's number one driver, Robert Kubica, who was seriously injured in a rallying crash in February.
The Pole suffered a partially severed hand and leg and arm fractures and is still recuperating and it remains unclear when - or if - he will be able to return to F1.

Kubica's doctors told Autosport magazine last week that he hoped to be fit enough to drive in an F1 simulator by the end of September.
Heidfeld, a veteran of 10 years in F1, was chosen as his substitute because of the 34-year-old's proven points scoring record.
But after a podium in the second race of the season in Malaysia, he and the team have not been able to reach the same heights again.
Nevertheless, Heidfeld has scored points in five further races, and lies eighth in the championship two points clear of Petrov, who is in his second season in F1.

Kubica finished last season eighth in the championship, scoring 136 points to Petrov's 27.

Meh, saw it coming tbh.

 

[BlacqueJacques]

Hired 'gun' has to produce some results; or is scapegoat for under-performing, but often flying , car.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I'll wait for confirmation from the team.

 

[Peter.]

At long last Bruno Senna finally gets the opportunity to show his colours and earn his stripes. That is, if this is all true.

If he can beat Petrov, or be reasonably close, i'm guessing he'd keep that seat for a while.

 

[PeterJB]

He hasn't raced in almost a year so I can't imagine he'll be that competitive.

 

[Akmuq]

Hopefully it's only till after Monza and Renault can take Grosjean then.

 

[Pupik]

Hopefully Bruno will bring two pairs of overalls, as Renaults are recently prone to toasting to the track, rather than on podiums.

Ah, to see another Senna in the black-and-gold again...

 

[niky]

Slightly cynical about the whole exercise. Nick hasn't done bad. I don't know that changing drivers mid-season is going to do anything except gain them some sound bites, especially with a driver named "Senna"... you know, the same name as the driver whose movie was just released...

Then again, I wish Bruno luck. I hope he makes the best of this opportunity...

 

[Northstar]

Shouldn't it be Petrov getting replaced? He is behind Heidfeld in the standings after all.

If it's true it's not shocking as it seems Renault hasn't liked him much this season.

 

[Peter.]

Shouldn't it be Petrov getting replaced? He is behind Heidfeld in the standings after all.

If it's true it's not shocking as it seems Renault hasn't liked him much this season.

Thing is, Heidfield was brought onto the team to be the number 1 driver and to lead the team. He has helped them in car development well, but Renault are expecting more of him being the number 1 driver. He has struggled against Vitaly in qualifying, and if my memory serves me well, Pertov has finished ahead of him more times.

The reason Vitaly isn't going anywhere is because, not only is he not doing a bad job, but he also brings money to the team, something that they will need to survive, given the migration of key staff members from the team that's happened all year.

I'd have probably been Groajean in the car this weekend, but Renault want him to finish a GP2 season first and wrap up this year's title before promoting him. If Kubica can't make it for next year, we will most likely see Roman take the seat, no matter how well Senna does, as there is already a bias to Roman within the team, coupled with pressure from the French to hire a French driver.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

At long last Bruno Senna finally gets the opportunity to show his colours and earn his stripes.

He had a chance last year. He pretty much got the seat at Hispania for free. And at the young driver test after Abu Dhabi, Colin Kolles said that Davide Valsecchi demonstrated more understanding of the car in one afternoon than some drivers did in an entire season. Do you think he was just saying that to be spiteful? Bruno Senna was nowhere last year. If the team weren't so dependent on funds, they probably would have kept Chandhok and gotten rid of Senna.

If he can beat Petrov, or be reasonably close, i'm guessing he'd keep that seat for a while.

Until Robert Kubica is ready to come back. Or, if he cannot come back, until Romain Grosjean is ready to race.

Shouldn't it be Petrov getting replaced? He is behind Heidfeld in the standings after all.

First of all, Petrov has a contract for two years and provides sponsorship. Secondly, the team are publicly unhappy with Heidfeld, not Petrov. And thirdly, although Heidfeld is ahead of Petrov on points, he only has a two-point lead on the Russian despite finishing ahead of him more often than Petrov finishes in front of Heidfeld.

 

[Pezzarinho17]

Hopefully it's only till after Monza and Renault can take Grosjean then.

I think that is a definite, wonder what they'll do if he takes the drivers title early!

 

[C-ZETA]

The real reason they dropped Heidfeld?

He doesn't get enough air over Petrov.

Although it is kinda perplexing why Renault need a replacement for money. Can't they get Lotus or themselves to inject a little money into their F1 team? Surely they must have enough with all the Clio's they sell every year.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Hopefully it's only till after Monza and Renault can take Grosjean then.

If Senna joins the team, he will probably stay with them until they are certain Robert Kubica is coming back. If Kubica can come back by the end of the season, Senna will stay at Renault because a team may only run four drivers over the course of a season. If Kubica is ruled out, then Grosjean might get a look-in. But if Senna gets the drive, Grosjean won't join the team until they are certain Kubica won't be coming back this year.

 

[MatskiMonk]

This is F1, so I suspect the decision is mainly related to $.

While Heidfeld is on a salary, Senna, Renault's reserve driver, comes with several million pounds of sponsorship

I think that says it all.

Ah well... Heidfeld.. I've got 6 words for you Bayerische Motoren Werke Deutsche Tourenwagen-Meisterschaft... I hope.

I can't see a decent drive opening up for Heidfeld now in F1, I'd rather he went and did something else rather than scrape the bottom of the F1 team barrell,

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Heidfeld.. I've got 6 words for you Bayerische Motoren Werke Deutsche Tourenwagen-Meisterschaft...

He was already attached to the program before Kubica's accident.

 

[MatskiMonk]

He was already attached to the program before Kubica's accident.

I know there are rumours but I don't recall seeing anything more substantial than that?

 

[dhandeh]

So Mr reliable and consistent, is no longer reliable and consistent.

Hopefully Senna, puts a strong performance in.

 

[Peter.]

He had a chance last year. He pretty much got the seat at Hispania for free. And at the young driver test after Abu Dhabi, Colin Kolles said that Davide Valsecchi demonstrated more understanding of the car in one afternoon than some drivers did in an entire season. Do you think he was just saying that to be spiteful? Bruno Senna was nowhere last year. If the team weren't so dependent on funds, they probably would have kept Chandhok and gotten rid of Senna.

Why on earth would HRT have dropped Senna? Bruno consistently outpaced all his teammates, including Chandhok. He wasn't accident prone either, and he was the only one of the drivers who last year could challenge any of the opposition in the races, which he did more than once.

Honestly, where did this opinion of yours come from? It seems like you just threw that one at me without thinking about it.

 

[Akmuq]

Why on earth would HRT have dropped Senna? Bruno consistently outpaced all his teammates, including Chandhok. He wasn't accident prone either, and he was the only one of the drivers who last year could challenge any of the opposition in the races, which he did more than once.

Honestly, where did this opinion of yours come from? It seems like you just threw that one at me without thinking about it.

Not Klien.

But yeah, Senna was way better then Chandok and Yamamoto.

If Senna joins the team, he will probably stay with them until they are certain Robert Kubica is coming back. If Kubica can come back by the end of the season, Senna will stay at Renault because a team may only run four drivers over the course of a season. If Kubica is ruled out, then Grosjean might get a look-in. But if Senna gets the drive, Grosjean won't join the team until they are certain Kubica won't be coming back this year.

He's having an operation 'later this month' which will give an indication as to weather he will be fit to race again, but personally, I can't see him racing this season, would like it, but don't think so.

 

[Sureboss]

There's no chance they'll risk him if he's not 100%. If he is to race this season I'm guessing they'll get him to do some practice sessions in a couple of races before his comeback to build up his strength.

Good chance for Senna, I don't think he'll get a better chance than this is in the next few years.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

He's having an operation 'later this month' which will give an indication as to weather he will be fit to race again

Which is what Renault will use to gauge his potential to come back. Once he's recovered from the operation, they'll know whether he'll be able to race in Abu Dhabi and/or Brazil. If he can, they won't put Grosjean in the car because that will use up their final driver change.

Of course, Senna may not race in Belgium in Spa, or at all - Nick Heidfeld is going to fight the replacement.

 

[Akmuq]

Of course, Senna may not race in Belgium in Spa, or at all - Nick Heidfeld is going to fight the replacement.

I immediately tought of this.

But then I read the link and was dissapointed.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

If you ask me, Heidfeld's got a pretty thin case. He was ready to retire at the end of last year, and he knew the Renault drive was only ever going to be a temporary thing. And he can't exactly argue that it's unfair to drop him when he is in front of Petrov considering that he is only two points ahead despite finishing in front more often than not. If he were twenty points ahead, it might be a different story.

But mostly, legal action isn't going to get him anywhere. Andy Soucek once had the Coloni GP2 cars impounded because of a legal dispute - he claimed he had paid for a drive, but was dropped before he had completed the agreed-upon number of races, which is fair enough ... but the team was then known as Fisichella Motorsports, and by the time Soucek got around to impounding the cars, FMS had already left Coloni and all of the senior people had been replaced. It was effectively an entirely different team, and one that had no connection to him. But that didn't stop him from doing it.

And afterwards, he started to wonder why no Formula 1 team wanted him. It was simple - they just couldn't trust him. And also because he seemed to expect to be given a championship-winning car from the outset simply because he was Spanish and Alonso is Spanish despite the fact that he hadn't exactly shown potential in droves. But the legal action against Coloni certainly did him no favours.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

I'm glad Senna is getting a run in a car that is better than what he had last year. It will let all of F1 see what Senna can do against the other midpack cars.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Except Senna isn't getting a drive. Not yet. The team hasn't decided, and with Heidfeld's threat of taking legal action against them, they may decide it is better to leave Heidfeld in the car until such time as they have a stronger legal position for letting him go.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

Except Senna isn't getting a drive. Not yet. The team hasn't decided, and with Heidfeld's threat of taking legal action against them, they may decide it is better to leave Heidfeld in the car until such time as they have a stronger legal position for letting him go.

From what the Daily Telegraph says they dont seem to be doing it based on performance grounds like Heidfield is claiming. Renault is suspected to be doing this because their funding is getting low (not sure how with all those sponsors) and Senna would be a better pull because he is suppose to have sponsors that Nick lacks.

 

[Pupik]

You know, the thread title makes it seem like Renault also dropped Senna for a hot tub.

Not a very good trade.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

You know, the thread title makes it seem like Renault also dropped Senna for a hot tub.

Not a very good trade.

If it has relaxing bubble technology it might be a win!!! No, but seriously now that I look at it, you've made a funny point.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

From what the Daily Telegraph says they dont seem to be doing it based on performance grounds like Heidfield is claiming. Renault is suspected to be doing this because their funding is getting low (not sure how with all those sponsors) and Senna would be a better pull because he is suppose to have sponsors that Nick lacks.

True, but the article I linked to claims Heidfeld will fight back, claiming that he shou;dn't be dropped because of his performace. And from that we can extrapolate that maybe Heidfeld thinks he should be at the team and Petrov should go - except that Petrov has his own sponsors, who will pay in 2012, and so they need him to stick around.