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!

 

[Josh]

Nick has had several years of experience driving an F1 car. Senna has 1 year of experience in a car which sometimes made me wonder if it was even an F1 car at all.

It's much easier to adapt to something new when you have Nick's experience.

 

[Cookinflatsix]

Thing is...he isn't a newbie.

Nick Heidfeld didn't make that mistake when he replaced de La Rosa in 2010 and he never raced the car in those conditions for.

Were the circumstances identical?

Has Heidfeld not made ANY mistakes at all since then?

Because if the answer is no then what you are saying is irrelevant and not well reasoned

 

[Slyboogy]

Because if the answer is no then what you are saying is irrelevant and not well reasoned

Just looked back...so it was.

Apologies.

 

[RayInTorontoCanada]

...As for today what disappointed me was the lack of progress he made up the field after the first corner incident more than the kamikaze move itself...

That's because he got a drive through penalty for ending Alguersauri's race, remember? Cheers.

 

[Galahad]

OK, let's look at Senna and Petrov after the safety car period, when Bruno had already taken his stop-go penalty.

Laps 17-20
Bruno's best lap: 1:56.933
Vitaly's best lap: 1:54.302
Average difference in laptime over the period: Petrov 1.888s faster

On lap 21 Senna pits, so for laps 21 and 22 (his out-lap) there is no comparison.

Laps 23-29
Bruno's best lap: 1:54.322
Vitaly's best lap: 1:54.211
Average difference in laptime over the period: Petrov 0.623s faster

On lap 30 Petrov pits, so again we can disregard laps 30 and 31.

Laps 32-43
Bruno's best lap: 1:53.585
Vitaly's best lap: 1:52.432
Average difference in laptime over the period: Petrov 0.730s faster

On the final lap 44 Petrov slowed dramatically, and was passed by Massa on the run to the flag.

 

[Brogan]

Great work G, that's fairly damning.

 

[Galahad]

Obviously there's traffic to be factored in there, for both of them, plus from 23-29 Bruno is on the newer tyres of course.

 

[Slyboogy]

That's quite a big margin each stint...

Maybe his car was damaged after his collision at the start?

 

[RayInTorontoCanada]

Galahad, you're right about traffic.

I mean if Bruno was consistently lighting up the times in Q1, Q2 and Q3, then there's no reason for him to be so much slower in the race. He obviously was in slower traffic after his penalty whilst Vitaly was amongst the faster cars.

 

[jez101]

Many like myself, will have to join you at that table!

Including me!

 

[sushifiesta]

I just stuck the Spa data into mine and jez's Tyre Degradation Spreadsheet and in fact it looks like Petrov was affected by traffic more. Obviously the spreadsheet isn't fail-safe, but it flags up times where a driver is less than one second behind the car in front and his lap time is affected by more than 0.3s:

Senna:

Laps affected by traffic: 14, 16, 30 and 41-43
Average gap to car in front throughout race: 6.47s (obviously affected by Drive Throughs, which meant he had clear air for long periods during the first half of the race).

Petrov:

Laps affected by traffic: 2-12, 30, 32 and 36-42
Average gap to car in front throughout race: 1.18s

 

[Galahad]

Thanks sushi

 

[sushifiesta]

I guess gap to car behind is relevant as well (if they were having to defend etc.), which is 5.17s for Petrov and 9.90s for Senna. Whatever way you look at it Petrov was much quicker in the race and if anything he was affected by traffic more. The only possible explanation could be if Senna's car was damaged, but maybe for his first race being half a second off isn't so bad?

 

[Galahad]

He definitely wasn't in traffic on lap 20, when Jarno overtook him.

 

[RayInTorontoCanada]

So what to think now?

Moment of Maximum Pressure - Dying Seconds of Singapore Q3.

Petrov 1:49.835 ... just enough to make the cut to Q2 but with the second Renault still to complete...then:

Senna 1:48.861!

When I saw that I said "Wow!"

That's a high pressure moment and Senna came through...and it wan't even close!

I think Senna's Spa and Singapore qually and his first ever points at Monza is doing his confidence no harm whatsoever.

I mean it's not as if Petrov's a bad driver. Petrov's been "out of sorts" at this meeting supposedly...but i'm sure Bruno is tightening the noose.

What do the fine folk of CTA think?

 

[Vortex]

Yeah he’s doing alright, specially considering the lack of testing.

 

[Cookinflatsix]

It's like I thought, the kid has a good attitude, has waited patiently and is now doing well with the car he has

Apart from the first corner crash at Spa, and despite the name, he is looking very promising

 

[RayInTorontoCanada]

Is it possible that Bruno's helping the rather ruthless Boullier show the exit door to Vitaly?

I heard rumours that Renault may dump Petrov inspite of the Russian having a contract (and a budget).

Has anyone else heard of any concrete news on this?

 

[Slyboogy]

Petrov is more consistent in race pace, so I expect the tables to turn during the race, he's not doing too badly but thats only in qualifying.

 

[RayInTorontoCanada]

What's gut-wrenching for the two drivers is that - again like Monaco and Hungary - the R31 has no downforce!

The gap from RB7 to R31 just in two races (since Spa) has widened massively!

This Renault-engined car is nearly 2 seconds further back than Vettel's Renault-engined car from what the interval was at Spa!

If you look at their Q2 times Spa V Singapore, I think it's 1.8 seconds worse on laps that aren't too dissimilar in terms of time...and the difference in Grid Position is 15th (Senna) here vs 7th (Senna) there.

Shows you what a decent car it is on high speed circuits and what a shit car it is when you need downforce and grip.

I don't see any points for either Senna or Petrov unless they luck out on a Safety Car or half the mid field runners get wiped out.

It's not like this team doesn't know about Safety Cars and Crashing.