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]

He's doing pretty well. I still prefer Petrov, though. My guess is that Petrov will finish ahead of Senna in the race.

 

[RayInTorontoCanada]

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 wasn't even close!

AUTOSPORT described Senna's final Q3 flyer as "a mighty last lap".

Best wishes to Bruno for the race. He'll need it.

 

[RasputinLives]

I'm with Josh - Petrov will finish in front of him. Mr Senna has not impressed me with his race craft so far.

 

[Josh]

Guess we were wrong. Well done to Bruno

 

[RasputinLives]

I'll doff my hat to him regarding beating Petrov but I'm pretty sure 15th and a lap and a half down were not the results 'Renault' or his Brazilian backers were really after.

 

[Galahad]

Q1, not Q3, surely?

They were fighting with the Lotuses. Presumably not what Dany Bahar has in mind generally. Still Bruno did pretty well.

 

[Jos the Boss]

He looks more like Ayrton every day, its almost scary!

 

[RayInTorontoCanada]

Bruno starts 9th on the Grid.

It's numerical order for the Renault boys so Bruno has to thank the Number 9 on his car.

Unlucky Number 10 for Vitaly this time, then!

The Force India boys are bearing down on ya so Godspeed in the Grand Prix to you both!

 

[RasputinLives]

Not to mention the Toro Rosso's have some pace Ray and would have been further up the grid if they hadn't been so stupid. Add Nico Rosberg behind him as well and our Bruno better make sure he can see his mirrors tomorrow!

Ahead on numerical order! Can I just request that this isn't counted as a plus for Senna on the quali stats?

 

[Jen]

He looks more like Ayrton every day, its almost scary!

I'm assuming you mean just physically?

 

[RayInTorontoCanada]

Can I just request that this isn't counted as a plus for Senna on the quali stats?

Request granted!

Vitaly's Q2 time was just slightly faster. Slightly only. But faster none the less!

 

[Jos the Boss]

I'm assuming you mean just physically?

Yeah physically, not driving wise

 

[RasputinLives]

Well after that great quali in Spa the shine has dropped off our Bruno hasn't it?

I think I've seen him in enough Grand Prix's now to make an official judgement and I'm afraid its not a great one. Might have made a decent midfield runner in a less competitve era but right now with so much talent knocking on the door I don't think Bruno deserves a seat in F1 - certainly not at the supposed 5th fastest team.

Thinks have gone from bad to worse since they got rid of Heidfeld haven't they? I would even say that Petrov has had a worse season than last year. Might be time to cull both of them and have a fresh start for the team being Lotus.

 

[Galahad]

Agreed on all points. A shame that Kubica-Grosjean looks increasingly unlikely, but Petrov-Grosjean I think is likely to be a more competitive pairing overall.

 

[Viscount]

I don't think it's Senna the car's just not very good. Renault have said with their forward exhaust they don't get enough downforce in low-speed corners plus their car's really sensitive to setup up changes. I think they gave up on the car a while ago and are just focusing on next year's car, Senna also had KERS failures the past two races. Since he joined he's scored 2 points and Petrov's only scored 4.

 

[RasputinLives]

so he's got 50% of the points Petrov has whilst in pretty much the same amount of races Heidfeld scored more? and as I thought Heidfeld wasn't exactly on fire I'll stand by my thoughts on Bruno

 

[Viscount]

Fair point, I just compared their stats and Petrov has out-qualified Senna 5-2 and out-raced him 4-3 despite retiring twice, so I can't really dispute your thoughts. It just seems Senna's only chances in F1 have been in bad cars, Petrov scored 32 of his 36 points before Senna joined when the car was still being developed.

 

[Lewywo4]

He looks more like Ayrton every day, its almost scary!

He may look like him, but I don't think that he has the talent of a Di Resta.

 

[Slyboogy]

I don't think it's Senna the car's just not very good. Renault have said with their forward exhaust they don't get enough downforce in low-speed corners plus their car's really sensitive to setup up changes. I think they gave up on the car a while ago and are just focusing on next year's car, Senna also had KERS failures the past two races. Since he joined he's scored 2 points and Petrov's only scored 4.

Points don't tell the whole story, Petrov in the same race where Senna scored 2 points had qualified highly and looked very strong that weekend, plus he was in he points solidly but him and Alonso decided to drag race, and took himself out.

From what I have seen when Petrov's not been in an incident and their both in the race, Petrov has been better in pretty much every aspect. The car is capable of points, just that Petrov's was unlucky in Monza and he let himself down in Korea, they where on for some points in India but the team messed up the strategy, the same in Abu Dhabi.

 

[racecub]

Excellent quali Bruno