Lotus Renault GP confirm Bruno Senna’s race seat for 2011 Belgian Grand Prix – Formula 1 news
Lotus Renault GP have recently confirmed that Bruno Senna will be replacing Nick Heidfeld for the upcoming 2011 Belgian Grand Prix.
“Lotus Renault GP is pleased to announce that Bruno Senna will race alongside Vitaly Petrov at this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. A press release with further details on the matter will be issued tomorrow morning,” according to Renault’s
official press release.
There were rumours at first about this development and it was also revealed that if this replacement does take place, Nick Heidfeld would take legal action against the team as his contractual agreements allow him to do so.
Heidfeld was already being criticised by the whole team in public as a result of which it is believed that the German driver will not keep his race seat after 2011. However, it seems now that he will not be able to keep it consistently in 2011 either.
Bruno Senna on the other hand is the team’s test driver and he has been testing for them during most of the Friday practice sessions this year. The team is pretty much satisfied with his performance up until now and it seems that this is going to be a very
good opportunity for the young Brazilian.
The team signed Heidfeld after their full season driver Robert Kubica went through a major rally accident just weeks before the beginning of the 2011 Formula 1 season as a result of which the team was forced to find a replacement.
They decided to sign the experienced German driver since they were looking for a driver who would help the team actively throughout their new car’s developmental process and that can only be done if the driver is experienced.
However, after 11 races, the team stated that they are not satisfied with Heidfeld’s performance and that he was not performing up to the team’s expectations.
The 2011 Formula 1 season has been quite disappointing up until now for Renault as they are in 5th place in the constructors’ standings behind their closest rivals Mercedes GP who are 14 points ahead.
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