F1 News
Date: 25/August/2011
Renault has taken the controversial step of dropping Nick Heidfeld in favour of Bruno Senna for this weekend's Belgian F1 Grand Prix.
F1 veteran Heidfeld was drafted into the Enstone-based team at the start of this year, after team leader Robert Kubica was seriously injured in a rally accident.
34-year-old Heidfeld took a podium in round two (Sepang) and holds eighth in the championship after eleven of 19 rounds, having scored two points more than team-mate Vitaly Petrov.
The reasons behind the driver change have not been revealed. Team management have recently been critical of Heidfeld, but many suspect a financial element in Senna's appointment.
The Brazilian, 27, is the nephew of the late Ayrton Senna. Bruno made his F1 debut with backmarkers HRT during 2010, before switching to a test driver role at Renault for 2011.
A team statement declared: "Lotus Renault GP can confirm that Bruno Senna has been nominated to race alongside Vitaly Petrov at this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix and at the Italian Grand Prix two weeks later.
"The team’s present intention is to give Bruno the opportunity to race for the rest of the season. However, some legal issues have not been fully resolved as yet and, as a result, the team will make another announcement on this matter in due course."
Heidfeld is refusing to go without a fight, appearing in the Spa-Francorchamps paddock on Thursday and insisting that he has a valid contract in place.
As legal discussions continue, Renault's only comment regarding Heidfeld is that he "remains contracted to the team".
Senna was also choosing his words carefully, upon facing the press on Thursday:
"Well, right now, I’m confirmed for this race and the next race but, for some legal issues still to be resolved, they can’t confirm the rest of the year or not. The intentions are that I do it but it still cannot be confirmed."
Complicating the Renault situation further are persistent rumours that Romain Grosjean is being lined-up for a return to Renault later this year.
Grosjean replaced Nelson Piquet Jr for the second half of the 2009 season, but failed to impress. The Frenchman has since rebuilt his reputation in GP2 and looks to be back in favour.
Heidfeld, a former McLaren test driver, made his F1 debut with Prost in 2000 and was a full-time racer until the end of 2009. Heidfeld then drove a partial 2010 season for Sauber before being picked by Renault to replace Kubica.
Heidfeld has taken 13 F1 podiums during his career, but no race wins.
The Renault F1 team, previously Benetton, last won the World Championship with Fernando Alonso in 2006.
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