[Driver] Senna in at Renault?

[kezza7]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/form...e/14624084.stm

Get in. Finally going to get a fair gig at F1. Make or break time for the lad.

Bit worrying about the reasons why though. Could Renault really be that short of money. Shame for Heidfeld, he's been fairly on a par with Petrov all season, but i see why they want to give Bruno a try, they have the oppertunity.

[strider]

Great news in my book. Glad I changed my avatar the other week, must have made all the difference!

I really hope Bruno makes the most of the opportunity. It will be great to see a familiar yellow helmet in that black and gold car.

[Bononi]

Wow, that was quick. I just read this weekend he was trying to get a drive for the brazilian GP, and now this ! All the good luck to him !

[p-matt]

I was expecting Grosjean to have Heidfeld's seat by Singapore, so a bit surprised Senna is in now. Senna must surely be bringing in money for the seat. Great to see Bruno get a decent shot at F1 given that he should have had a Honda/Brawn seat. But I'm a huge Heidfeld fan, and disappointed that he's probably off to DTM for good now.

[strider]

The World Series by Renault was at Silverstone this last weekend and Grosjean did the F1 demonstration. I thought it was a mistake because Bruno has a big fan base in the UK, but now I'm thinking he must have been busy elsewhere!

[Jacques Rabbit]

I guess we'll get an answer as to how good he really is, since it's certainly been a divisive topic over the years.

I'm not convinced on him, though I'd like him to succeed. But I'm not convinced by Romain Grosjean, either, so I guess there would have been no excitement with whoever replaced the unconvincing Nick Heidfeld.

[bella]

i reckon there's a pointer towards next years drivers in the fact that the world series by renault organisers are hoping to hold races in brazil and russia with subsidised travel and freight for teams in 2012

[SALEEN S7R]

Have to say I feel a bit sorry for Heidfield, he hasnt really done much wrong since his return to F1 this year, ok yes he has had a couple of accidents but he is a good driver and is still outscoring Petrov in the points. I just read another article with Eddie Jordan in it where he describes Renault as bullying Heidfield, somehow that rings true to me, and we all know Renault have financial difficulties.

Senna is a half decent driver, but hes not in the same league at the moment as Heidfield IMO. Senna is there becausse he brings money with him, just like Petrov, pure and simple. If there was any justice and Heidfield was still to be replaced anyway it should be by someone deserving like Grosjean at least, ok he maybe isnt a superstar either but he is worth 2 of Senna. IMO.

[strider]

Heidfeld is not going to go without a whimper, but the fact is that he has not developed the car as well as he was supposed to do and Bruno is the official third driver and can bring some money with him.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/93888

[Marbot]

Some time for Renault to see how Senna does before the decision to put Grosjean in the seat is made? Make the most of it Bruno!

And what of Kubica? It's getting to the end of August and still he has no movement in his elbow!

It's also interesting that Petrov now appears to be driver numero uno.

[strider]

If you read this from Joe Saward, the whole story makes a lot more sense.

And, yes, Petrov has become the de facto numero uno because he has come on this season, whereas Heidfeld has not lived up to expectations.

[Carsandmotorracing]

Well that's good, just hope that he does better than Heidfeld, who I would be keeping instead of Petrov.

[littleman]

Heidfeld has never been a top flight driver, Senna is a nice lad and comes with lots of money.F1 likes lots of money.

Just a shame Adam Carroll doesn't have money - he would give any team a shot in the arm, a proper racing driver on a par with Hamilton, Vettel,Button,Webber etc if he was just given a real chance.

[ChrisPage]

Originally Posted by littleman

Heidfeld has never been a top flight driver.

Harsh. Heidfeld has always performed well against all team mates - he beat Kubica in 2 out of 3 seasons they were team mates. He is currently leading Petrov. In the last few races its been clear Renault have increasing grown to dislike him - everything gets blamed on Nick with a degree of venom I don't like to hear. See the post-race interviews after Hungary when Boullier spat that the fire was all Nick's fault. Then others in the team later had to backdown on that slightly.

If Nick is so disappointing to them, how should they feel about Petrov, who has looked average at best since the first race, and who they choose to keep on. Suppose you don't bite the hand that feeds you...

And I have a shiny 50p that Senna doesn't exactly lead Petrov home. In three races we'll be saying how 'great' Petrov is for beating 'Senna' and welcoming BigJohn into that second Renault...

I like Nick Heidfeld but I think he has suffered from seeming to plataux at a certain level. He's always been quick, but you never get the feeling he's going to win a race, or drag a car up like a select few others. That said I think he clearly has deserved an F1 seat.

[spider]

Originally Posted by strider

The World Series by Renault was at Silverstone this last weekend and Grosjean did the F1 demonstration. I thought it was a mistake because Bruno has a big fan base in the UK, but now I'm thinking he must have been busy elsewhere!

Hmm, did you notice just how hard he was pushing it? Normally on those demo runs they muck around doing doughnuts, practice starts etc but he was treating it like a qualifying run...almost as if to desperately take advantage of the track time.

Bruno will get a go, but Romain will defo get a run-out this year. Would be interesting to see if anyone was timing his runs at Silverstone...

Running Heidfeld makes little sense now. He's proven he's not significently faster than Petrov, and he's proving more clumsy now as the season has gone-on. So, ditch the charisma-less Nick and give two young interesting talents a run...

[Carsandmotorracing]

Originally Posted by littleman

Just a shame Adam Carroll doesn't have money - he would give any team a shot in the arm, a proper racing driver on a par with Hamilton, Vettel,Button,Webber etc if he was just given a real chance.

I agree with what Chris said on your first statment.

But I agree with this, he deserves a shot at IndyCar, showed some promosing performance last season in the few races he competed in.

[bella]

Originally Posted by spider

Hmm, did you notice just how hard he was pushing it? Normally on those demo runs they muck around doing doughnuts, practice starts etc but he was treating it like a qualifying run...almost as if to desperately take advantage of the track time.

i'm not sure about pace, but he did exactly the same combination of runs as they've done all year. they do 3-4 full laps at a decent pelt, then stop where there's people, donut, lap round back to the start finish straight, donut, lap, and then do a final set of donuts and the guys turn up and wheel the car off. with occasional variations depending on where the concentration of spectators is or if the track isn't wide enough. bearing in mind the other driver at the weekend was jan charouz, who does usually struggle to find any pace whatsoever in fr3.5. last year it was jerome d'ambrosio, who was quite prompt too (and also did some excellent donuts).

frequent viewers of the demo runs at different circuits will notice they use different configurations of front wings and so on when frankly, it's not necessary. so they definitely do something they're not technically supposed to, maybe some basic wind tunnel validation or something....

[GTRMagic]

When will the Genii team change the name of this squad? It must be embarrassing for Renault management to see their name dragged thru the mud with various sponsored drivers linked to the seat, and the rumours about budgets being very slim all the time

I dont expect a lot from Mr Senna.. the Genii has not been strong all year, not a patch on its blue engine-sharing friends..

[Paulaweybridge]

F1 is all about money !!!! (Statement of the century)

[Jimmy Magnusson]

Originally Posted by ChrisPage

Harsh. Heidfeld has always performed well against all team mates - he beat Kubica in 2 out of 3 seasons they were team mates. He is currently leading Petrov. In the last few races its been clear Renault have increasing grown to dislike him - everything gets blamed on Nick with a degree of venom I don't like to hear. See the post-race interviews after Hungary when Boullier spat that the fire was all Nick's fault. Then others in the team later had to backdown on that slightly.

If Nick is so disappointing to them, how should they feel about Petrov, who has looked average at best since the first race, and who they choose to keep on. Suppose you don't bite the hand that feeds you...

And I have a shiny 50p that Senna doesn't exactly lead Petrov home. In three races we'll be saying how 'great' Petrov is for beating 'Senna' and welcoming BigJohn into that second Renault...

I like Nick Heidfeld but I think he has suffered from seeming to plataux at a certain level. He's always been quick, but you never get the feeling he's going to win a race, or drag a car up like a select few others. That said I think he clearly has deserved an F1 seat.

Big John Nielsen? Fantastic, didn't think he'd ever get a shot to be honest but there you go. Might need to widen the chassis a tad.

Anyway. Yeah, Heidfeld is perfectly servicable but also kind of meh. I liked him too, but once he was out of BMW there was no point in bringing him back. Swapping PDLR for him was pointless, just as appointing him now was. I just don't get the sense he's got the mentality for it any more, just like Trulli for the past few years.

Now the difference in capability between Petrov and Senna is not great. I refrain from using the word "talent", since I feel Senna has more of that - but all of Petrov's experience and many years in GP2 has turned him from not so great to pretty solid. But I also think Senna, while somewhat talented, is not as good as his supporters want to make out. Better than Buemi? Yeah, but not by much. Better than say, Neel Jani? Probably not. Coupled with Petrov having a full season of running with the team and Bruno having been out of it (and never having raced a "good" F1 car), I wouldn't expect much from him, not for these first few races. If he's got the cash they might keep him around for next season, but not if it means a Petrov/Senna team full time. That's only a way to send yourself down the rankings.

[Mekola]

Bruno now needs hours and hours in the simulator, mostly when there is no testing. As most as he can, in order to acclimatise with the car.

[Mekola]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

When will the Genii team change the name of this squad? It must be embarrassing for Renault management to see their name dragged thru the mud with various sponsored drivers linked to the seat, and the rumours about budgets being very slim all the time

Although Renault didn't have any problems when they hired another Brazilian paydriver, also a son of a triple F1 world champion ehem ehem... At least when they contracted him (the end was scandalous as we knew)...

[snowdog140]

Hope this doesn't happen actually, never seen much talent from Senna, always thought he was riding on a reputation that was never his to inherit. He was mediocre in junior formulae, he did have a good season in GP2 but I think his insistence on holding out for an F1 seat killed his chances, and his wasn't hugely spectacular in an HRT last year.

[strider]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

I dont expect a lot from Mr Senna.. the Genii has not been strong all year, not a patch on its blue engine-sharing friends..

I seem to remember it had a couple of podiums at the beginning of the season, but I may be wrong.

[ChrisPage]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

When will the Genii team change the name of this squad?

I agree. All this fuss and argument over whether to call it Renault, or Lotus, or Lotus Renault when the clear proper name for it is Genii Capital Racing Team. Pfftt.