A possible more sinister reason for the Senna drop...

Was Senna dropped at Silverstone over Kolles e-mail..?
Wed, 14 Jul 15:40:15 2010

Buzz Up!
It appears there may have been rather more to Bruno Senna’s absence from the British Grand Prix last weekend than monetary issues, if a German magazine is to be believed – with suggestions that an inflammatory e-mail mistakenly sent by the Brazilian rookie to Hispania Racing (HRT) team principal Dr. Colin Kolles was at the crux of the matter.

Senna was inexplicably dropped on the eve of practice day at Silverstone, and a promised explanation on Friday never came, leading to a number of hypotheses within the paddock, the most viable of which seemed to be that one of the 26-year-old’s sponsors had failed to produce the goods at the eleventh hour and that well-heeled test and reserve driver Sakon Yamamoto – reputedly able to lay his hands on some $5 million – was therefore parachuted in to take his place.

Both Senna and team-mate Karun Chandhok have been the subject of speculation this season that they are on the verge of losing their seats due to funding shortfalls and rivals with greater financial backing, but during practice day at Silverstone, it was announced by HRT that Senna would return for next weekend’s German Grand Prix at Hockenheim and henceforth remain in the car for the balance of the campaign – again without reasoning for the volte-face.

Now, Auto Bild Motorsport claims the Paulista wrote an e-mail fiercely denigrating Kolles’ management style – and then accidentally sent it to the German, with the inference being that he was ‘rested’ for the race weekend as punishment and a warning not to undermine the team boss again.

 

Sounds a little weak for a reason to suspend a driver, especially in the high stakes world of F1. Granted, Senna isn't setting the world on fire. But I would hope a team principal would have thicker skin than that and handle it differently, if true at all.

 

I just can't get too excited about any HRT news.

 

+1

I don't buy that story btw simply because Senna's sponsors have been slow with payments all season long and HRT has played games with him because of that. Now they simply had enough and since the British GP is somewhat more prestigious, this one must have stung.

Senna is useless as is Yamamoto. So who cares?

And to those who want Klien in that seat: Same story as Senna.

 

What's the going rate for seat time in an HRT?
If we knew that they'd be around next year it would make a good F1 pool jackpot

 

I don't mean to sound mean, but, i really think HRT shouldn't even be in F1.

 

You are not wrong.

Are they in F1 or are they running F1.5 during the races now too?

 

And Lotus (new version) and Virgin ... all completely FNCKEN useless.

Pete

 

Lotus.my is all you need to know...

 

My personal belief is that in a major international sport such as F1 with its extreme competitiveness, you should only have teams come in at the top level AFTER they have proved themselves at the minor league level.

For a new team to come in at the top level with NO experience is just asking to have your head handed to you on a platter...

Frank

 

That would make sense if F1 were a sport and not a business

Alas.

 

To put it in another way: At a few races this season, the fastest time of the GP2 boys was near as makes no difference as fast as the HRT, it's that slow. I have no idea what they where playing at, they have no money whatsoever, I mean, we barely reach halfway point (in fact, silverstone practice was halfway point no?), and they're already offering the seats of their drivers to the highest bidder, so to say. The only team who fared of worse was USF1, where a lot of millions went into a black hole with not even a car completed.

 

Andreas, where is this irrational hate of Senna come from? I would be willing to bet that Senna would drive rings around Yamamoto. He's beaten Chandhok pretty handily so what's the problem? You expect him to podium in that turd of an HRT he's stuck with? His late uncle probably couldn't do that. Even the Speed broadcast team has been quite complimentary of Senna's driving skills. I find it hard to believe that you would feel this way when you think a stiff like Buemi is any good.

 

Senna jr is only here because of the name. He sucked before he made it to F1 which is why it took him so long.
Senna Sr drove the Toleman turd successfully.
Speed TV were supportive of Scott Speed. Nuff said.

Buemi is my compatriot so I'm biased.

 

So were Hill, Villeueve, etc. That's nothing new so what's the problem? Piquet Jr, he's not.

Not really true. Did you actually watch him in GP2? I've had my eye on him since F3000. Usually fighting for the championship but just falls short. Has pace, but not a great qualifier. Not exactly sucking.

You seriously think the Toleman was worse or as bad as the HRT? You must be kidding

Speed was thier compatriot so they were biased

Compatriot or not he's still a bum. He'll be gone soon enough.

 

But unlike Hill or Villeneuve Senna Jr. lacks talent.

I watched his rise to F1 and his endless attempts to get into a F1 seat. And every time there was a shoot out he lost.

Yup.

Ok, bad example. Pick any other driver. The commentators never bad mouth a driver. Never. I've met Hobbs in person and there it is a very different story. In fact back in spring he was making big question marks about MS when talked to in private.

Nope. He got his 2011 contract. Not something Senna can say. BTW: Where was he during the British GP?

 

Toleman lead or nearly lead a race ... HRT will never ever do this.

Again why the fnck are we talking about 2 nobodies, ie. HRT and Senna Jr ... can we kill this thread please.
Pete

 

Oh, no, no way!

 

Its like asking which sunk faster the Titanic or the Andrea Doria.

 

Ok, with so much opposition from people who know their F1 history I decided to dig a little further and not just go by my (leaking) memory and it seems that the truth is a bit everywhere: Since the Toleman and the HRT were/are horrible cars it is hard to measure lack of success. So here is the one statistic I came up with:

DNQ = did not qualify
DNS = did not start (don't ask me)
DNF = did not finish

1981: Toleman had 93% DNQ and exactly 1 race finish, zero points
1982: 93% DNQ/DNF and 2 race finishes, zero points
1983: 60% DNF, 10 points (9 to Warwick)
1984: 72% DNQ/DNF, 16 points (13 to Senna)
1985: 93% DNS/DNF, zero points

2010: HRT has so far a 40% DNF quota, zero points

So for three of its 5 years of existance the Toleman was just an awful car, worse than HRT. However in 2 years it was indeed very fast sometimes, but still struggled more than the HRT to finish a race.
However to be fair I was comparing Senna Jr. with Senna Sr. and you could make the argument that the Toleman of 84 was a better car than the HRT is. It certainly was faster in comparison. Of course I could argue that was Senna Sr.'s magic, but Warwick (who is no slouch however) had a not too horrible season in the previous year as well.

In the end, this probably sums it up best:

 

Here's my 2 cents worth! (which nobody asked for but that's never stopped Me before and it won't stop Me in future!).

If Senna's such a great talent, to the same level as Hill or villenueve, why was the only team interested in him the Campos/ HRT team?.

By the same token, I'm not hearing about any of the other teams desperately clamouring to sign him up!.

I too think he's an average driver who's benefitted from his uncle's famous name. one of the biggest problems I have with him is that I keep reading interviews with him where he criticises his fellow drivers racecraft and makes demands for inquiries into other drivers conduct. No sooner do I read these than I start asking Myself: "Who the **** do you think you are?".

As for the: "Did you actually watch him in GP2?" statement, how many other drivers have excelled in the lower formulas and looked like they were going to set the world of F1 alight when they got there, only to end up being yet another mid field runner at best?.

just because a driver is good in a GP2 car doesn't automatically mean he'll be good in an F1 car.

Like I have already said, if he was that good he'd have a lot more offers of F1 drives coming his way.

 

He would have been at Honda in 09 had they not pulled out. RB wanted Rubens in there because of his experience. During a test Senna was within .03 of Jenson. Not too bad for a "no talent"

The silly season hasn't started yet. If you believe the rumors Petrov and DeLaRosa might be in trouble

Example? It's not that I don't believe you, I've just never seen it.

No, but it doesn't but it doesn't mean he's a no talent either. He's won in just about everything he's driven and fought for the respective titles and usually fell just short. Considering he quit racing when his uncle passed away I'd say there's at least some natural talent there. Money and his uncles' name have surely helped him along the way. Some people hate him for that same reasons. I'd just like to see him in a better car before I write him off, this HRT is holding him, and anyone, save Yamamoto, back who drives it.

 

Now not even HRT would hire Senna anymore:
http://www.motorsport-aktuell.com/automobil/kolles-senna-faehrt-hundertprozentig-nicht-fuer-uns-3287350.html

Kolles to Reuters: "I can definitely say, that Bruno Senna will not be driving for HRT".

 

Can't agree at all. Then F1 would die withing 2-3 years. Gotta have a full field, and there is no race series where the entire field is competitive. Usually the season is dominated by 20-25% of the field. Spectator base would diminish if only 3-4 teams fielded 6-8 cars. Worse is 3-4 teams with 3 cars each.....wow....12 cars. F1 is competitively boring enough, to reduce the number of starters would make is as bad as watching grass grow.

 

Luis, it probably had more to do with money than talent. It is really hard to judge a driver in F1 today when in a mediocre or less than mediocre car. Maybe if Senna was is a real car, he would have done much better. Or maybe not. No one here has the ability to make that determination.

To compare the F1 cars of 15-20 years ago to the F1 cars of today is a futile attempt at comparing apples to oranges. Drivers from 15-20 years ago would likely be failures today. Look at what just a couple of years did with Michael Schumacher.