Bruno Senna

Congratulations to young Bruno Senna for a fantastic qualifying session today.

I'm sure his uncle would be very proud knowing he's starting the Belgian Grand Prix - his first race of the year - from 7th on the Grid.

Spa-Francorchamps is a special circuit. A real challenge and known as a "driver's circuit" which "separates the men from the boys".

Add to that the tricky, greasy conditions you had today and Bruno's consistency in ALL 3 sessions at this circuit means there's some talent there.

The Renault is by no means a Top 4 car...so to be 7th on the grid ahead of the likes of World Champions Alonso and Button (both of whom have superior Ferraris and McLarens) and his somewhat highly rated teammate Petrov, is a very good achievement.

Good luck in the race tomorrow Bruno!

C'mon Boy...Make Brazil Proud of it's Formula One drivers again!

 

[teabagyokel]

The problem with Senna is that if Maldonado has a relatively mentally stable race, he will beat him. That happened this weekend.

 

[The Artist.....]

.... but Maldonado rarely has mentally stable races....

 

[teabagyokel]

The Artist..... I know. But frankly, in a race winning car, if your team-mate scores points in 4 races out of 18, you should beat him.

Maldonado has at least, on occasion, shown that there is some potential in the car. He's got into Q3 on 11 occasions, qualifying top 3 on 5 of those. Senna has got into Q3 once.

I think Senna has been let off the hook a lot by the team-mate he has, because I think a team-mate with any propensity to avoid accidents would have shown him up by the kind of margins that would make Felipe Massa blush.

 

[Josh]

He's been having a pretty good run though. No major incidents.

 

[RasputinLives]

I know I'm not the most impartial but can't help but have a little rant about this load of rubbish from Bruno http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/104467

Sunday will be Bruno's 46th Grand Prix. Lets remind him that his uncle Ayrton had 4 GP wins and 13 podiums by his 46th Grand Prix and infact the majority of world champions have a race win by their 32nd GP (don't make me bump my thread on this).

So how he claim he's not had enough time I don't know!

 

[Brogan]

I think there's a typo in the article and what it should have said is he's not had enough talent.

 

[Fenderman]

Just had a look at Bruno's career stat's on Wiki. His open wheeler career is dire for a driver in F1. I can't help but think that he hasn't had the success and sufficient experience in feeder series to be suitably qualified for the job. At the very least one would expect him to have won a shed load of races and at least a couple of championships in the lower formula's.

He's not the only one with a less than impressive pre-F1 career. That is indicative, to me at least, that the teams who bring new drivers to F1 need to raise their standards. If F1 has any pretensions left that it is the pinnacle of motor sport then prospective entrants should have a minimum level of achievement on their sheets.

With all that in mind, he's done very well just to survive! I also think that what he said is quite reasonable and shows that he knows full well that he is on a learning curve with much room for development as a driver. After all, he's come into F1 not just as a novice in F1 but pretty much a novice in anything else!

 

[The Artist.....]

Fenderman - Bruno's career stats only tell half the story - it is almost certain that had he started earlier, he would have won several junior championships, but he was a relatively late starter into car racing, which always meant he was just that little bit further behind his peers....

Is that a good excuse for him being in F1? No, but it does add context to his junior career....

I do think that he'd have been better to stay in British F3 for an extra year, but that would have meant that he was so much older than anyone else...

 

[racecub]

I like him And he would have won GP 2 but for weird things happening.

 

[RasputinLives]

Fenderman - Bruno's career stats only tell half the story - it is almost certain that had he started earlier, he would have won several junior championships, but he was a relatively late starter into car racing, which always meant he was just that little bit further behind his peers....

Is that a good excuse for him being in F1? No, but it does add context to his junior career....

I do think that he'd have been better to stay in British F3 for an extra year, but that would have meant that he was so much older than anyone else...

To put this "late starter thing" into perspective. Bruno started his career in open wheel racing the same year that Sebastian Vettel did and has the same amount of years experience as him. Vettel also didn't have the advantage of kart racing and coaching from Ayrton Senna as a kid either.

 

[The Artist.....]

RasputinLives - this is a reasonable comparison, BUT I would also add that the younger you start anything, the steeper the learning curve - Anyone who has started something later in life will tell you how difficult it can be.... But then, maybe someone who starts late shouldn't be in F1!

Also, Vettel was karting from the age of 3.5, and competing from the age of 8 - giving 17 years of continuously competing up to the present in motorsport. Bruno was only really racing since 2004..... Those people who ignore karting as building experience really shouldn't - as if it didn't help, it wouldn't be true that many of the current F1 stars cut their teeth in early years on the karting track!

 

[Jen]

He and too many others believed his uncle's assessment.

 

[Fenderman]

Must have missed the "the late starter" bit. Vettel's records in karts and the other series for that matter suggests that having Ayrton by his side wouldn't have made a jot of difference. Looks like he did very well with the support he got from elsewhere!

Anyway, what I was getting at is that Bruno's career has lacked any kind of experience at the sharp end. He has no record of, or experience of, meaningful success. Vettel's consistent racing at the sharp end, and winning all over the place, is a whole different level of experience. Bruno hasn't had that and personally I don't think he'll ever have it.

 

[teabagyokel]

Fenderman - although I reckon he could emulate Vettel by going to Force India and getting beaten by di Resta.

 

[The Pits]

Damon Hill was a late starter.

 

[Fenderman]

... and became a very quick finisher. I reckon motorcycle racing and despatch riding around London probably helped.

 

[Il_leone]

RasputinLives

Bruno is not getting enough testing time not like his uncle had..I think the speed of Pastor Maldonado has surprised him somewhat

Also this idea of Williams running Bottas is not helping his cause which is only saved because he brings in money

The name which got him the drive also means he is under more pressure to deliver

Do you know how close Bruno was becoming Button's teammate in 2009 before Honda pulled the plug seems like a distant memory

 

[teabagyokel]

Il_leone - No-one else is testing either and he's slower than them too.

 

[racecub]

senna never gets to drive on a Friday, that must hamper him a lot and put him on the back foot to Maldonado. If one of the top runners lost all Friday for whatever reason, it would be put forward as a huge excuse for a bad performance in quali or on race day.

 

[teabagyokel]

http://www.statsf1.com/en/2010/coree-du-sud/qualification.aspx