Sakon Yamamoto will continue to race alongside Bruno Senna at the Belgian Grand Prix, HRT confirmed today.
The Japanese driver made his first outing for the team at Silverstone, replacing Senna, and has since made another three appearances standing in for Karun Chandhok.
It had been expected that Chandok would return behind the wheel after the summer break, but the team has announced that Yamamoto will keep the second seat for Spa.
Yamamoto said: "I am looking forward to be back in action after the break. We will need a good speed in the fast corners and also a good downforce on the car. We expect that the track layout suits our car and we try to do our best again."
Team mate Senna has said he hopes that the low-downforce nature of the track will be better suited to the HRT car.
"I always look forward to Spa-Francorchamps and I’ve raced there every year since 2005", said Senna. "It is my favourite circuit of all the ones I’ve raced at and my first time there in a Formula 1 car will be very special for me.
The track is very fast with lovely gradient changes and challenging high speed corners. It is one of those circuits where the more you push, the better the lap time will be. Spa is a medium-downforce circuit and it demands a lot of high-speed stability of the car, as the average speed of the corners is quite high.
It will be very important to find a confidence-inspiring car balance to extract the best lap time possible. The downforce levels of the track are in line with what we have in our car and I have a good relationship with the circuit as well, so I am really looking forward to driving the car for the time.
Bruno Senna
2010 Belgian Grand Prix
daykind
20th August 2010, 14:51
What is wrong with HRT?
Chandhok is a decent driver and should be in that race seat. Two races for Yamamoto and two for Klien should be how it works, with Senna and Chandhok missing just two races each.
Sorry, but this is now bordering on the ridiculous
J.A. Brown
20th August 2010, 15:03
What is wrong with them? They are in need of money, that’s what’s wrong with them.
wasiF1
20th August 2010, 16:28
I do understand that money is the key reason why Yamamoto is there but sometimes the team should choose a better driver than a good one.
BasCB (@bascb)
20th August 2010, 19:44
Well, what do they have to loose? The only thing they need is a guy driving the car around without hitting too much and bringing the car to the finish line.
And Yamamoto is doing just that job, even if Chandhok was better at it (in the first 1/3 of the season he had most finishes from the new teams).
mateuss
20th August 2010, 18:49
‘Shoooww mmeee the MOOONNNEEEYYY!’
SamS
20th August 2010, 15:02
What a joke, Chandhok is much better than Yamamoto, surely this switching is going them more harm than good?
Robert McKay
20th August 2010, 15:44
Yeah they can be off the back by a little bit or off the back by a long way.
Ace
20th August 2010, 15:03
This saddens me because I like Karun, but doesn’t surprise me. Every dollar makes a difference for a small team. Karun will be back… I hope.
Sush Meerkat
20th August 2010, 15:04
Spa should suit the HRT? wow, these guys are optimists.
F1 Novice
20th August 2010, 15:13
no downforce less drag should be quick in a straight line
Sush Meerkat
20th August 2010, 18:27
Speed trap classification states that the HRT is not fast in a straight line either.
Mike
21st August 2010, 21:18
HRT have regularly been high in the speed traps Sush. This I can only imagine is because the car doesn’t produce so much as a a gram of down force.
So I think the question is, can Lotus and Virgin have good high speed packages?
I think HRT really has a chance for getting off the bottom in Monza, but in spa? hmm…
Ace
20th August 2010, 15:05
… The good news is that we might have karun back in the commentary box :-)
wasiF1
20th August 2010, 16:48
I don’t think that will happen as he is still in contact with HRT as their driver (reserved may be) but he won’t be sitting in the commentary booth until & unless he is out of the team.
bosyber
20th August 2010, 16:52
he did it before, and he was pretty good at it. Don’t see why BBC 5live wouldn’t consider giving him another go. Bernie might like to keep him active on the grid as well.
Dan Newton
20th August 2010, 18:41
If your talking about the practice sessions then, yes, it would be great to hear him there. He knows so much…….
Unfortunatly it does mean he’s without a car, but I wont go into that!…
John H
21st August 2010, 17:02
Karunipedia returns
Dan Thorn (@dan-thorn)
20th August 2010, 15:11
I’m happy for Yamamoto to be in a race seat if the money he’s bringing means that HRT are more likely to be on the grid next year. I’d rather have Chandhok on the sidelines now and then get a full season with the team next year than for him to race the rest of this year and be left without a drive should they fold.
bosyber
20th August 2010, 16:53
Thanks for putting it that way. Sad as it would be, that is at least somewhat of a consolation.
US_Peter
20th August 2010, 17:58
This just stinks, plain and simple.
Rahim RG
20th August 2010, 18:04
Well an Indian Driver with Misfortune…..
He is talented surely…
but this has always happened with few driver’s like Alex Yoong….
I hope Karun gets a drive next year…Nice Guy..
slr
20th August 2010, 19:13
Oh well. I really want to see Chandhok racing again.
kinggp (@kinggp)
20th August 2010, 19:17
i really didnt want to say this but i hope hispania collapse and next year, stefan and epsilon esukadi in to have 13 teams.
mainly this is because the way hispania are being run is a joke, they dont deserve to be there. i hope senna and chandhok get other drives next year
also by having 2 new teams next year, this will mean that there will not be one team at the back on its own next year and to have 2 new teams coming in, one needs to leave and hispania dont deserve to stay. if they are having so much trouble staying afloat.
Hairs (@hairs)
20th August 2010, 20:22
Two brand new teams are going to have exactly the same problems that HRT had – lack of time and money. They can’t be much less organised than HRT unless they end up like USF1, but that’s not saying much. Bernie is right when he says that 2 of the new teams have been a waste of time and money – he has kept them afloat behind the scenes apparently, like he did with Jordan in previous years.
I wouldn’t hold out hope that Epsilon or Stefan would be able to make a go of being a new team in F1. Lotus, I give a fighting chance, because they’re actually organised, and putting in the work.
kinggp (@kinggp)
20th August 2010, 21:23
yes, but epsilon, have already started wind tunnel work on a 2011 car so have a head start in the development, and have experience in other categories and stefan have the money to get the job done as well.
Felipe Bomeny (@portugoose)
20th August 2010, 22:27
What a surprise… not really.
Charles Carroll
20th August 2010, 23:47
I am personally looking forward to watching the Yam drive in the wrong direction at Spa.
AlonsoWDC
21st August 2010, 3:02
Not to sound so traditionalist (by any means) but this is still a reality for the world of OW motorsport, and beyond, really. And naturally so in Formula One.
It’s far less common than it has been, but it could be a very long time before we think of these situations the same way now as we consider, say, deaths in F1.
Team orders will still exist after the eradication of sponsor drivers. Trust me.
Oliver
21st August 2010, 7:56
What difference does it make. If the car is still going to finish last, why not still make money out of it. Obviously HRT are not chasing points.
karan01 (@karan01)
21st August 2010, 8:38
I could do with a Yamamoto
Sparkyj23
21st August 2010, 8:46
This is a joke – so if a terrible driver with more money and a superlicence turned up he’d get a Guaranteed drive? Pathetic – I hope Hispania get what this deserves – Yamamoto crashing into Bruno at turn 1 and destroying both cars.
Mike
21st August 2010, 17:44
Ok smarty, I’ll be awaiting sparky F1 to appear on the grid within a few years.
They MUST have money, Yam brings that, I agree it’s a disgrace, But it’s a disgrace on the F1 community rather than the team.
Don’t forget this is a result of Bernie and the established teams dangling a dream in front of these guys eyes, and then when they bite and try to take that dream, they have kicked their legs from under them.
Don’t forget that.
Peckers96
21st August 2010, 11:05
Yes, this is not a great situation and, to a point, it makes Formula 1 seem amateurish … but what is the team supposed to do? The three new teams were just players in the Max-FOTA political war, now they’re doing what they can to survive. They’ve been given no concessions for extra testing by either the rule-makers or the established teams and they run on a fraction of the budget. Perhaps the established teams and the FIA should have a look at how difficult they are making life for the new teams.
John H
21st August 2010, 17:04
This is why the 107% rule will be a GOOD thing.
Tom L
22nd August 2010, 0:01
It’ll be interesting to see the HRT line up for 2011 as they cant risk being over the 107% max….
Younger Hamilton
22nd August 2010, 4:21
HRT Have done it once again.Poor Bruno and Karun they deserve much better.This doesnt help with development of the F110 at all, if your going to replace a driver with a test driver they should be well experienced like Klien (note he should be driving instead of Yamamoto) and not one timers like Yamamoto
DavidS
22nd August 2010, 10:34
It’s not like having a good driver is going to make a difference to the results. HRT has the worst car on the grid, so the best their drivers can hope for is being classified second last.
The argument that Karun should get the seat because he’s clearly a better driver doesn’t matter, because he’s not going to get the results anyway, on account of the car.
It’s a shame that Karun is left without a seat, because he’s a nice guy and a good driver. Unfortunately, money talks.
studi06
23rd August 2010, 3:19
I wonder if the new Codemasters f1 2010 game incorporates a ‘Create Driver’ option for HRT to enable players to keep their driver lineups up to date.. ;-)