Klien in for Yamamoto

[VkmSpouge]

Sakon Yamamoto is suffering from food poisoning so Hispania have switched him for Christian Klien for the Singapore Grand Prix. Yamamoto is expected back for Japan.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/86900

[I am evil Homer]

Shame....that he'll be back for Japan that is.

[Dave B]

Food poisoning? Is that we call it these days? I'll remember that.

"Hello, British Gas? I can't pay my bill this month, I've got food poisoning."

[maximilian]

Shame....that he'll be back for Japan that is.

LMAO, exactly!

I still can't for the life of me figure out WHY whatever sponsors he has would want to spend big bucks to back HIM. If you're gonna spend a couple million dollars on sponsoring racing, wouldn't you rather back someone who actually gets you some GOOD press and exposure, someone who actually has some pace? Wanna sponsor a Japanese driver? OK, so get Sato back in the seat. He may crash a lot, but at least occasionally shows speed. Or, as bad as Nakajima was last year, he'd still be a much better choice. Or give Yuji Kunimoto a chance? Oh well, rant over.

Good for Klien. I always said that if Liuzzi gets another chance like he did, so should Klien, because in their direct comparison, Klien was doing better at Red Bull. Of course, I don't know whether racing for HRT should be considered a chance, rather than a burden... :

[truefan72]

good for Klien but that car is an absolute dog so whether it is yamamoto klien or Kharun in that car makes little difference at this point. I don't think yamamoto is that good, but then again, I haven't seen him drive a competitive car in F1.

People probably were not too high on Kobayashi either until he got into a very competitive toyota and showed some gusto. We might be talking about a different yamamoto if he ws driving an RBR and mixing it up in the points, or winning a race (however unlikely) then we would be saying how great he is and how he fought adversity and "earned his dues" to be now driving a great car. That's F1 for ya

[maximilian]

Hm, nah. When the car sucks, your competition is your team mate, and when your team mate is miles ahead of you, then you're just no good, especially if that same team mate was behind the guy you replaced. Good drivers attract attention even when they drive for a backmarker team (such as Alonso or Webber did at Minardi at the time).

[maximilian]

Very well done by Christian Klien, leaving Senna behind him by miles in qualifying, despite stepping into a car he has hardly driven so far this year. Exactly what he needed and was hoping for, this kind of performance should get noticed even at the back of the field.

Best of luck tomorrow in the race. If he can finish it ahead of Senna too, he has made a compelling case for keeping him in the race seat for the rest of the year, even though it might be Klien/Yamamoto. I hope it'll be Klien/Senna or Klien/Chandhok, but realistically if Yamamoto's food poisoning*coughtemporarilydriedupsponsorfundscough * heals up well, he'll probably and sadly be back in the cockpit ASAP, especially in Japan.

Who knows, if it's a high-attrition race, a safe finish may be very significant for HRT.

[Retro Formula 1]

Not a fan of Senna and CK has shown why he shouldn't be in F1.

[jens]

I hope this will for once and all silence all those people, who have been calling for better cars for the likes of Senna/Chandhok (Lotus, Force India and whatever) They just kept making each other looking half-decent without a proper yardstick. Remember, Senna only barely beat Yamamoto, who nobody understands, why he is in F1.

Good for Klien. I always said that if Liuzzi gets another chance like he did, so should Klien, because in their direct comparison, Klien was doing better at Red Bull.

That really isn't a fair comparison, because Klien was the more experienced driver, while they were racing for RBR and he also got 15 races in the season, while Liuzzi merely got 4. I don't consider Klien as a superior driver compared to Liuzzi. But he is a good fit for a backmarker team with his experience.

[truefan72]

excellent job by klien today. I knew he had it in him.
And there can be no excuse by Senna.

Klien was driving on this track for the first time himself and unlike his teammate, did not spin the car (several times0 and generally embarrass himself throughout the weekend. Maybe yamamoto was right to get the flu for this race.