I feel very sorry for Nick, he didn't reserve to get the chop. Though Kubica will be back next year so it was a matter of time because he is a future world champion for sure.
It's a shame that Heidfeld's relationship with the team deteriorated to the point where Heidfeld felt the need to walk away from Renault and potentially end his F1 career. Heidfeld isn't the sort of guy to cause problems. I blame Renault for this.
So they have two drivers who will just crash into people/the wall. Well Renault used to be my team, now I might just forget about them. Atleast Heidfeld scored consistant points...
Im pleased they have given Bruno a chance! Lets look at it this way - at the start of the season they had a very competitive car and i think they want Heidfeld to come in as a reliable steady team-mate to Petrov who got a reputation last year as being a 'crash-kid'. However Petrov has proved this year that he has matured massively and is much more reliable! Combine this with the fact that their car has not really turned out to be as good as expected because of a lack of development and I think they feel they have nothing to lose and everything to gain from letting Bruno race a handful of races! I get the impression they are evaluating Bruno and Vitaly to see who will be best to partner Kubica next year! Nick has had his time and is nothing more than a consistent finisher who sometimes gets points and they might find that Bruno has great potential - we haven't had the opportunity to see yet! Therefore I you taka away the "oh i feel sorry for Nick" comments and look at it from Renault's point of view, I think its actually the RIGHT decision to make.
Yes, I'm inclined to agree with ApexF1 on this. Expect Heidfeld back in the DTM series next year (or possibly Sports Cars). I would be very surprised if he were to go over to DinkyCars or NASCAR, but stranger things have happenedâ¦
Reckon Heidfeld deserved better but I always expected Senna would get the seat at some point. His best shot is maybe taking over Trulli's seat at Renault next year though I think Chandhok's a shoe-in.
Glad Senna is in, but I think they kicked out the wrong driver. Interesting to see if Kubica comes back this season who will be sitting in the garage on race day.
Don't think Renault got this quite right somehow. OK, granted Nick's a "nearly-man" only brought in to fill a gap caused by Kubica's near-fatal crash in rallying but he's still 2pts ahead of their star-driver Petrov, and that may continue for another couple of races while Nick will be watching from the stands (unless he can blag a hospitality slot with some other team, and that'll set tongues wagging for sure). Do Renault want to take a punt on the mercurial Petrov pulling in some big points every now and again, or do they want Heidfeld to pull in smaller but regular points? Now we have our answer. Besides, I doubt KUB will return next season, never mind this one. Healing after surgery is one thing, complete rehabilitation to race-fitness is something else altogether.
I think one of the reasons Renault got rid of Heidfeld was because as the lead development driver Heidfeld had a negative impact on car performance as the season went on because he likes to 'deaden' the handling of the car and likes a safe car, while Kubica liked an aggressive, edgy and ultimately faster car.
While I don't think Heidfeld was ever going to set the world alight, I think it's unfair that Renault fired him after two retirements that were in no way his fault. They tested Senna in FP1 at Hungary to basically tell heidfeld, "up the pace, you aren't doing good enough, do well here or we'll replace you" and then a fire broke out through no fault of his own and it seems that was the final straw for Renault..
great news for Senna, Im looking forward to seeing what he can do, Im expecting a few points from him.
