Chandhok sidelined, Senna and Yamamoto to drive for HRT in Germany
Bruno Senna and Sakon Yamamoto will be HRT’s drivers in the German Grand Prix next week.
Senna will return to the car having been absent during the British Grand Prix.
A statement from the team said Karun Chandhok will return to the cockpit “at some later races this season”.
HRT said:
After Sakon Yamamoto gave a very positive performance in Silverstone, the team has decided to give the Japanese driver another opportunity to drive the car alongside Bruno Senna. Karun Chandhok is still part of the Hispania Racing, HRT F1 Team family and is likely to be in the car at some later races this season.
Yamamoto will switch to car number 20 having driven number 21 at Silverstone. He expects to perform better in his second race outing for the team this year:
I have a lot of good memories of the circuit in Hockenheim. I like the track layout with the passing point at the end of the long straight and also the Stadium sector, which is very challenging. There is always a nice atmosphere with the spectators at the grandstands and I am always looking forward to come back to Hockenheim.
Compared to Silverstone, I think we are more competitive and we can achieve a good result again. The last race weekend was very exciting for me. Now, the team has given me another chance to race on Sunday and I will do my best to prove that it was the right decision.
Sakon Yamamoto
2010 German Grand Prix
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Image (C) Motioncompany
Anshumaan Tuteja said on 16th July 2010, 17:41
This is pathetic!!!
What is Kolles doing with the team??
Gravity said on 16th July 2010, 18:58
i heard Senna had issues with the boss? where did that go suddenly and now Chandok is out… =/
KnottyBwoy said on 16th July 2010, 21:30
Yamamoto is one of the owners of HRT…didn’t you know that? :-)
Anshumaan Tuteja said on 17th July 2010, 5:25
@Knotty..i know whose running the show in HRT after this episode..:)
p.s. how did you make that smiley??
US_Peter (@us_peter) said on 16th July 2010, 23:13
Will Buxton I think said it best:
https://twitter.com/willbuxton/status/18701281668
sumedh said on 16th July 2010, 17:42
Some kind of rotation policy by HRT, is it? Trying to keep all 3 drivers happy as all of them are bringing in reasonable sums of money?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 16th July 2010, 17:46
I think it has more to do with “sums of money” than “Trying to keep all 3 drivers happy”!
Nitpicker said on 16th July 2010, 18:00
I wonder if the drivers and their backers knew about these rotation shenanigans before the season started. The fans certainly didn’t.
GQsm said on 17th July 2010, 1:34
I think it was on Joe Saward’s blog in the last few weeks I read that before Silverstone and Bruno’s email, it was Karun who was in the firing line due to missed or late sponsorship payments.
This may be the actual reason behind this driver change. No matter what the reason though, I’m not very happy with Kolles’ conduct at all.
miguelF1O (@miguelf1o) said on 16th July 2010, 20:07
hahaha yamamoto must be a very spoiled brat is chandok paid by publicity like senna or not?
Anshumaan Tuteja said on 16th July 2010, 17:47
yeah..looks like it…and i knew karun made a huge mistake by signing for this stupid team..giving so much money and not even getting to the full season!!!..feel same for Senna also..
Speed Damon said on 16th July 2010, 19:39
I also think this is stupid. HRT should stick with one driver line up for the year and they can keep all three drivers happy by letting Yamamoto drive in Practice sessions like Force India or Lotus do. That way Chandhok and Senna can gain more experience and Yamamoto gets a go too. It’s win-win-win.
Anshumaan Tuteja said on 17th July 2010, 5:29
the doc doesn’t know the meaning of pareto improvement after all!!!(thats a situation when you make somebody better without making the others worse off)
Maia said on 16th July 2010, 21:35
Or just small sums of money and a way to keep all 3 drivers unhappy.
BasCB said on 20th July 2010, 17:34
It comes even better. Seems the two guys losing out on the race seats will be driving the team trucks instead, as their team has all 4 of them trained as truck drivers ;-)
Now that’s a driver rotation scheme HRT have here. I suppose the 4 of them are happy with being able to drive for the team at all events!
http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/239196/hrt-to-attend-truck-driving-lessons/
SiY said on 16th July 2010, 17:51
At Silverstone: “[Senna] will be continuing to drive in the remaining races of the 2010 Formula 1 World Championship”.
Today: “[Chandhok] is likely to be in the car at some later races this season”.
Not looking good for Karun, it seems.
Nitpicker said on 16th July 2010, 18:00
Shame, he’s got a decent turn of speed and seems a nice bloke.
PJA said on 16th July 2010, 18:37
I noticed the different wording as well, it seems that Yamamoto will probably get more races than Chandhok for the rest of the season.
US_Peter (@us_peter) said on 16th July 2010, 20:52
Boooooooooooooooooooooo.
Scribe (@scribe) said on 16th July 2010, 21:39
Agree’d last, agree now.
booooooooooooooooooo
Steph90 (@steph90) said on 16th July 2010, 17:52
Well if I knew HRT just wanted money rather than talent I’d have started doing the lottery
F1iLike said on 16th July 2010, 17:59
Second that. I thought Sir Branson would be the first of introducing his, pay – and go to space (or random activity) Obviously, soon we’ll see the likes of Paul Allen and Brangelina racing alongside our favourite talented racing drivers.
Steph90 (@steph90) said on 16th July 2010, 18:10
lol Brangelina, now that would be something.
I wonder who Yamamoto will replace next? Kolles? The actual car? That could make it interesting for Bruno and Karun. They couldn’t be much slower
Anshumaan Tuteja said on 16th July 2010, 17:58
Why is it that DR. Collin Kolles is always with a messy team??..or we can put it the other way round..WHY DOES A TEAM INVOLVING HIM GET MESSY??…wasn’t he at Midland or spyker in 2006 and they ditched albers???..history repeats itself!!
Maksutov said on 16th July 2010, 18:01
Honestly, the FIA should ban this switching of drivers. Teams should not be allowed to switch drivers unless the driver concerned is physically unfit or injured. HRT are painting themselves to be clowns of F1, it is bad for the sport.
Speed Damon said on 16th July 2010, 20:19
T agree completely (see earlier comment). I would completely understand if Chandhok or Senna walked away for another team at the end of the year. I think it would serve HRT right
Jarred Walmsley said on 17th July 2010, 8:49
For races and quali I agree, however to allow younger drivers to get used to driving in F1 they should be allowed to drive in practises.
Or, the teams must say before the start of the season who will be swapped out at what race
Jim N said on 17th July 2010, 15:37
That was a rule until quite recently. Teams had to nominate their drivers for the season and could only change them due to force majeure. That was to stop this sort of thing happening. I don’t know when the rule was dropped or why.
Daniel said on 18th July 2010, 12:18
Teams have been swapping drivers for years. Not so much lately, admittedly. Honestly I don’t see the problem. A team can put anyone in the car they want, provided they have the requisite skills, and that’s the way it should be. If you want to run your team differently, go and buy one.
Will said on 16th July 2010, 18:12
But what do we expect? HRT don’t have a pence…Shame on you HRT!
Oliver said on 16th July 2010, 18:13
I really don’t think many of us here will be able to keep such a team, with a very difficult start, running as long as it has so far this season.
We are indeed living in strange times. While I would love to see fully competitive cars and solvent teams in F1, we must take into consideration the effort it takes to put a team on the grid, for our pleasure, and appreciate sometimes the compromises that have to be made.
If you want the best driver, put your cash down.
Scootin159 said on 16th July 2010, 18:19
“After Sakon Yamamoto gave a very positive performance in Silverstone”
Dead last in qualifying and the race is what passes for a “very positive performance” these days? Clearly they must be talking about his marketing performance and not his on-track performance…
Rubbish Dave said on 16th July 2010, 18:29
Hey, it’s not bad by his usual standards (Last by a mile and retiring)
F1iLike said on 16th July 2010, 18:41
Well, at least an evil spring wasn’t in play, so at least they didn’t get stuck with badoer :O
PT (@pt) said on 16th July 2010, 19:07
“Dead last in qualifying” in an uncompetitive car after four years away from active F1 driving is promising indeed. I’m not a Yamamoto fan and I don’t know if money is involved behind this, but I do feel Yamamoto drove well as he wasn’t that far from Chandhok in qualifying and the race. I could well see him out-pace either Senna or Chandhok soon, possibly at Hockenheim.
Personally, I can’t see why everyone gets so emotional with teams swapping drivers. It isn’t anything new, particularly with minnows teams.
Ash said on 16th July 2010, 19:27
I think by “very positive” they mean “very cash-flow positive”…
Although — does Yamamoto actually have money? Who are the sponsors? Or is he just a gentleman of means?
DCrossy said on 16th July 2010, 18:24
Look, do you want HRT on the grid next year? If yes then let them get on with this, there is a lot of smart people in this business and I’m sure they are doing this for there own financial benefit, but i want a 26 car grid next year, so by all means put Brad Pitt in the car but been on the grid next year…. competitive..ish :)
Bendanarama said on 16th July 2010, 20:15
You know what, I fully agree with this. let them make their money from these sources this year, and next year they can work at trying to develop as a team.
f1yankee said on 16th July 2010, 18:25
honestly, hrt are only delaying their inevitable withdrawal from f1. adios. showing up at the first race with 0 miles on the car was a pretty clear indication this team doesn’t belong in the big leagues, as is being outpaced by gp2 cars. hopefully, hrt throws in the towel at the end of 2010 and frees up senna and chandhok to find legitimate cars.
sumedh said on 16th July 2010, 18:36
HRT is becoming a prostitute now with Dr. Kolles as a pimp. One who can pay the money to Kolles can literally ‘ride’ the car. – Sorry for flouting any non-explicit comments rule there
Einar AI said on 16th July 2010, 20:06
cant be put much better than this
J Luiz said on 17th July 2010, 11:29
Perfect…maybe soon Yamamoto will ride Kolles??
F1iLike said on 17th July 2010, 17:22
As it would seem, he’s always done that? According to this: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2010/7/11037.html
He’s been a underperforming child of Kolles most of his life. I bet there’s some sort of love in the air. The exhaust air of every other car that is.
Alistair said on 16th July 2010, 18:49
This team is a disaster. Worse: it’s a joke. I remember the BBC commentators pointing out that, at the Turkey GP, the best GP2 cars were quicker than the HRTs! That is poor. Moreover, the team is badly run, ill-prepared for the rigours of F1, and has little chance of improving. This driver rotation policy is evidence that the team might not even make the rest of the season; and serious doubts must be raised concerning their ability to compete next year. I’m not a fan of any of these small teams. And next year we might even get Villeneuve Racing! This is not good for F1. I’m beginning to agree with Nigel Mansell that it might be best if we essentially got rid of the teams and had a standard spec car: we’d get better, closer racing; and we’d see who the best drivers are: Hamilton would win every year.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 16th July 2010, 21:26
I don’t remember them saying that, but if they did they were wrong.
Senna and Chandhok qualified at 1’31.266 and 1’32.060 respectively. The fastest GP2 qualifier was Davide Valsecchi on 1’34.860. Nearly three seconds off.
The Genuine Jim said on 16th July 2010, 21:40
It was Monaco I believe. They said the top 6 GP2 cars would have been eligible for the F1 grid.
highdownforce said on 16th July 2010, 22:00
IIRC, It was on a Friday only.
Mike said on 18th July 2010, 1:25
Actually, I think I do remember that at turkey, must have been during the race because I was watching on TV. I think Legard said it.
I’m not sure if he was being serious at the time, But I think I remember getting angry at the TV… ^_^
Mike said on 18th July 2010, 1:22
I’m sorry, but you really have forced me to do this
#rant start#——————————-
To Alistair,
Your comment is quite possibly, the most ignorant comment I have ever read.
I could be wrong but have you just said that small teams are bad for F1?
Don’t make me laugh.
Williams, Mclaren, Ferrari, Mercedes.
four of the biggest names in Formula one’s history.
Which one started as a “big” team?
oh, right, none of them.
Without small teams F1 would be nothing, Minardi, who at the end was surviving on 19m a year, half of today’s “small” teams budgets, brought us Alonso, Webber, and many others. And has added invaluable amounts to F1′s heritage.
I think if you dislike the small teams of today, you really have not been paying much attention. remember AGS or Forti?
Without small teams, the only entrants into the championship could possibly be large companies, destined to leave soon after, like Toyota.
And that doesn’t bode well for F1′s future.
Stop stepping on the little guy.
#rant end#——————————-
To all,
I think, this whole HRT thing is being taken out of context. They have a slow car and they have little money. So, it seems logical they run Sakon. They need money, and it won’t come from sponsors who want their names plastered over the car.
For Colles to run Sakon, he has to drop someone else.
But, I can’t see them racing in 2011, Unlike Lotus, who has big backers + early success or Virgin who has Branson (nuff said), HRT doesn’t have that kind of cushion behind them.
leon said on 18th July 2010, 10:14
Yep. Dead right Mike.
I can remember Bruce Mclaren borrowing bits from other teams, just to keep his car running. Jack Brabham doing the same.
I remember Colin Chapman hiring out his workshop to other teams to make ends meet.
In those days, nobody thought any of ‘em would survive….
The rest is history.
Calum said on 16th July 2010, 19:02
Ridiculous, the whole HRT organisation is really backstreet and shady.
Mike "the bike" Schumacher said on 16th July 2010, 19:11
It’s a great shame but we shouldn’t all start attacking HRT and particularly Kolles.
I hate to see this happen but if HRT have to do this to survive, than good luck to them.
Don’t forget HRT entered with a €45million cap and although I don’t really like Kolles myself, if it wasn’t for him HRT would probably already have folded.