Heidfeld as good as confirmed?
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Of course it’s all about the test but this appears to be ruling out Bruno Senna and including Liuzzi and de la Rosa. These last two are real no-no’s so providing Heidfeld is reasonably quick… he’s back. Unfortunatley. Would have preferred to see Senna in the car…
He has said that Heidfeld is at the top of the list. That doesn’t mean he’s got the job. For all we know, Bruno Senna could get in the car and set the world on fire and at least delay Renault’s decision. After all, he did enough to impress Ross Brawn to the point where Brawn seriously considered replacing Rubens Barrichello with him in 2009. Another showing like that could well make Renault stop and reconsider.
Exactly PM. People are assuming that Heidfeld will be any better than Senna. Lets wait for this weekend to finish then draw conclusions.
So the theory is based on the idea that Barrichello is better than Heidfeld…
Looks like it’s going to be Nick then.
Just to add some meat to the bones of my confidence :
“Nick is here to be evaluated,” said Renault team boss Eric Boullier. “Once we have finished our assessment of him, if we are happy with Nick, then we keep Nick. If this had happened in the middle of the season, then the car would have been developed, and you could give a young driver some miles to educate him in Formula 1. But we have to develop this car from scratch, so the obvious choice of driver is an experienced one.”
So Bruno is very unlikely to get this seat because it’s the experience that EB is after. Not only to drive the car, but to develop the car.
Mid-season, it makes sense to give the time to your young drivers, as it would be time well invested. Renault have a lot of experience putting young drivers in their cars over the last 5 years or so, and it’s never worked out really well for them, unless significant money is involved to sway their opinions.
That past experience, which is near traumatic in some case (ie Piquet) suggests experience is more desirable than throwing caution to the wind.
Also bear in mind that despite his reputation, Nick Heidfeld really struggled when he raced for Sauber across the back end of 2010. He’s going to have to juggle fuel-heavy cars, the return of KERS, Pirelli compounds he has never driven on and Renault’s forward-blown exhaust systems all in one go.
Not sure I’m buying that argument PM.
He’s got as much Pirelli experience as any of them and already raced with KERS. Further, I don’t recall him struggling. Sure, he wasn’t at his quickest, but thats a far sight from struggling.
I do agree that we can’t go jumping to conclusions that he’s got it, but the fact that he is being tested at all shows that Boullier would rather take an experienced driver like Heidfeld over Senna.
Either that or he is there as a benchmark to figure out if Senna is any good
Heidfeld is the de facto choice. My ‘conclusion’ had a hyperbole caveat in that, unless something pretty significant happens, Renault are going with Quick Nick. So Bruno knocking a second off Heldfields best will be something pretty significant… but from EB’s attitude, he’s pretty confortable with the status quo.. how can we put it? The contract’s drawn up, the names are penciled in, but the signature isn’t in ink until Sunday! :)
They need consistency this season as much as speed. Bruno is a bit of a balls out racer sometimes, bind that with his inexperience in anything other than a dodgy F1 motor, and you got a lot of reason to believe he’s not going to be a SAFE bet for the season. Nick.. is a solid choice, at an uncertain time.
Besides, this thread is ultimately fan talk until Sunday / Monday comes, or such time when EB concretes over the speculation.
Personally, I would rather see Davidson in the car. A Brit in a ‘British’ machine.. albeit French Head, Malaysian Money, and a Russian Co-Driver.. he would be the all round best option for me. However, it ain’t gonna happen.
I’d like to see Davidson in the car – but for completely different reasons. It’s because I don’t feel that he was ever given a decent shot at F1, not that I think he is a faster/more consistent racer.
Realistically though? It’ll be Heidfeld as you say. Which I think is pretty discouraging to all those reserve drivers out there.
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