Kubica's replacement... (It's Heidfeld!)

So it's 100% driver and 100% car then. :D Because 50% - 50% would just be ridiculous. How fast can half a car, and half a driver go? :eek:

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Originally Posted by Wasted Talent

Have you seen how fast a driver goes without a car?? ;) ;) ;)

WT

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So it's 100% driver and 100% car then. :D Because 50% - 50% would just be ridiculous. How fast can half a car, and half a driver go? :eek:

I'm surprised so many people want to see Senna race.

Rather see one of the ol' timers take the steering wheel.

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Originally Posted by Bagwan

Bad news .
It sounds as though we may not see Robert on the grid this year at all .

This will put an end , at least for the next while , to drivers doing any extra-curricular activities that involve more than walking from bare floor to a carpetted section .

He must have been pushing hard , pre-start , to get the feel .
I hope he comes through this with flying colours .

I must confess that I didn't much like him when he came on the scene .
He replaced Jacques , my favourite driver .

But , I have warmed to him over the past couple of seasons as a driver who could get in to mix things up a little , despite not having a car to match the talent .
Now , it looks like he is the one who needs a replacement .

Nephew Senna is not up to the job , but there is a driver available who has loads of experience out there .
He'd fit in nicely , as he knows the team .
They've got his set-ups .
They might even still have one of his seats in the back room somewhere .

The press would be unbelieveable .

Bring back a WDC to replace the driver who replaced him years ago .
Bring Jacques in to replace Robert .

And , Robert , get well soon .

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I don't agree. Renault now needs an experienced driver now. The russian driver they have now is going to be useless. Even he was relying on Kubiza in developping the car and now he is in big trouble.

I dare saying Trulli should be going back to Renault. He knows the team already, he has tons of experience and given the circumstances he still can show some speed. And that's exactly what Renault needs.

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Originally Posted by mstillhere

I don't agree. Renault now needs an experienced driver now. The russian driver they have now is going to be useless. Even he was relying on Kubiza in developping the car and now he is in big trouble.

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Apparently, you haven't heard some well-documented news: Kubica did not help Petrov much, if at all, during the season, and Vitaly had to make do with his own talent and feedback to his engineers. If the cliche is true and you are only as good as your last race, then VP is doing remarkably well--he out-qualified Robert in Abu Dhabi. In the race, he ran in front, but the SC period "invited" the team to split their strategy. Petrov subsequently pitted and was put behind Kubica.

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Originally Posted by gloomyDAY

I'm surprised so many people want to see Senna race.

Rather see one of the ol' timers take the steering wheel.

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I'm torn because it's the new talent that we'll one day refer to as ol' timers... but I'm with you, I'd rather see a vet back in the car, particularly JV.

Jv has the best track record of all the available drivers - what is sooooo hard about this decision ?????

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Originally Posted by Roamy

Jv has the best track record of all the available drivers - what is sooooo hard about this decision ?????

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Maybe there are some people left at Renault who remember hearing the same argument in late 2004.

Here is more speculations:


I don't believe that Kimi will come back to F1 but you never know. There is again possibility for Kimi's management to make big money, so now we will know if Kimi really want to stay in rally as said...

The arguments regarding Villeneuve are quite funny, especially when they contain criticism directed at Heidfeld. When Jacques was last racing in F1, it was 2006 and his team-mate was no-one else than Nick. As we remember, Heidfeld was a bit better. The gap wasn't big, JV was having a solid season, but he still got beaten. We can add that in the meantime Villeneuve has never driven an F1 car, while Heidi has had lots of seasons under his belt and kept himself warm in F1 circles. Now tell me, according to which logic now 5 years later that inferior driver would suddenly turn out to be better out of the two, especially as the former has had zero practice at all? The only logic tells me that the gap has only enlarged.

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Originally Posted by truefan72

the problem with Heidfeld is tht he is at the tail-end of his career and is very much a known quantity.
He won't win you a race, he won't really podium, He won't be shining in Qualy, but he will bring the car home in a solid 6-12 position.

To me, that is simply not good enough for that Renault seat. Heidefeld is a competent F1 professional, but I'd rather have a younger hungrier guy in there with some racing chops and a winners mentality. I'd even take DiGrassi over Heidfeld TBH

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Doesn't make much sense. Heidfeld usually runs quite close to car's potential. Let's say Kubica would finish 3rd in that car in a race, then Heidfeld could be around something like P4. Now compare that to the likes of Senna and Petrov, who would be around P7-P8 in case they didn't crash out. Di Grassi? Bah, he was outraced by Glock most of the season.

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People want to see "new talent", but forget that Renault already has one such "new talent" - Petrov. How many of those underperforming inexperienced drivers do you need - the whole grid? And the only reason Senna is Renault's reserve and even has a shot at the race drive, is because of his name and the "connection to Lotus". Renault already has recent experience with a driver with a famous name of a multiple world champion (Piquet Jr).

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Originally Posted by DexDexter

But seriously, maybe Senna deserves a shot, Hispania were so awful last year that it's pretty hard to make conclusions based on that even if some of his teammates were quicker than him.

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Er... shouldn't the quicker team-mates get a chance before him then?

Such arguments could be made about any driver. Maybe Baumgartner deserves a shot in a good team too. Okay, Bruni was quicker than him, but the car was too bad and he didn't get a proper chance.