We hear that Bruno Senna will not be racing this weekend at the British Grand Prix, the team having decided to replace the Brazilian with Japanese pay-driver Sakon Yamamoto. It seems that the decision was taken because the team wants money. The news is expected to be announced shortly.
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joeblogsf1 
Surely this isn’t true Joe!?
Sad news.
Senna does not seem destined to have a successful F1 career. First Honda, not HRT.
I doubt his performances will have peaked the interest of other teams either – hard to do that in a HRT.
bloody hell what a scoop Joe!
sigh, what a shame for Bruno. Speaks volumes for the HRT team, personally i’d rather that they left the sport allowing for another team to come in (i.e. both Cipher and Episilon – no idea of the spelling!)
This sucks monkeyballs
good, i dont like senna.
plus he makes too many silly errors
Very interesting. Does Sakon Yamamoto have a super license? If not..does it mean we will be seeing Hollywood actors each buying a spot in the forth coming races? Can’t wait to see Puff Daddy in an HRT in Hungaroring? What a joke!! All glitzy and no substance
NO!!!
It had to happen sooner or later to them – it cant cost pennies all those front wings etc.
Although one would have expected Bruno’s “heritage” to have been a valuable commercial tool so am surprised that Karun is safe(r).
Perhaps this is a sign of bigger bad times for HRT, where next for Bruno?
It’s nothing new and the team needs the money, but it always bugs me when someone buys their way in at the expense of a guy who hasn’t really done anything wrong. True he hasn’t set the world alight, but that was never going to happen in an HRT…
That would be terrible news. I can’t see how this isn’t counter-productive in the long-term too. Mind you with a decision like this, ‘long-term’ must seem a bit of a pipe-dream to them. I’ve seen both Senna and Chandok as really nice, hard working people this year.
I honestly can’t believe this. Poor Bruno!
That sucks.
Never keen on Senna being hired because of his name. Even less keen on him losing his seat just for money.
Bah Humbug! Stupid World!
Wow. I thought Senna came reasonably well-funded by Embratel? Yamamoto must have some not-inconsiderable dosh, or HRT must be facing a not-inconsiderable cash crunch, to turf Senna on the eve of one of the marquis races…
Uncle B was making noises earlier this week about losing a team, wasn’t he — perhaps HRT are about to do a Super Aguri?
if its money trouble for Bruno, unlucky, Yamamoto is no better than Senna much worse in my opinion, if they him should have been Klien
(sorry typing error) if they had to replace him should have been Klien
And Senna was tweeting happily about doing an inspection ride only a couple of hours ago… Finances must be pretty dire…
omg is this true?
I guess HRT are not long for this world if they have to resort to dropping Senna for Yamamoto. If they can’t raise sponsorship on the Senna name and the media/sponsor friendliness of Bruno and Karun Chandhok they are in real trouble.
I can’t imagine why any sponsor would rather be associated with Sakon Yamamoto than Bruno Senna.
Hmmm. With moves like that, is it sensible to assume that Senna will be looking for somewhere else to drive next year?
Hi Joe, I wonder if the driver swap, relative to money, is the one of the last ditch efforts to keep HRT going, as from the outside it seems that their lack of funds could see them out altogether or in a different form for next year, here in Australia we have our own HRT, known as the Holden Racing Team, in our V8 supercar series, it is not normally termed “HRT” over here as its inference to “Hormone Replacement Therapy” is just a little delicate, however our HRT is run by no other than Tom Walkinshaw, who i would guess is “well known” to most of your readers from his previous exploits in F1 with Jaguar, benneton etc, interestingly the Walkinshaw Holden Racing team has not been running at the top of its game of late, and I am wondering if the “HRT”‘s i mention dont both need a decent dose of the other mentioned “HRT”,
Keep up the good work!
That’s too bad. I don’t understand this decision. What are the British without Bruno? And the Japanese guy doesn’t want money? What’s going on there? Can’t wait to hear the real reason…
Ahh that will sort all their problems!
The money Yamamoto brings in will be spent on accident damage- sound financial sense? And he will be at least 1 second off the pace.
This doesn’t bode well for the long term aims of getting a top 10 place which is where the big money will be?
I am genuinely pained to see the bearer of that illustrious surname ousted in this way.
something else is going on , bbc not reporting on rumours why. could be somthing other than money, has Bruno done somthing to upset the team???
Damon managed it, Jacques managed it…
Just like Nelson Jr. and [so far] Nico, it doesn’t look like Bruno will…
Heritage counts for far less in a recession!
HRT, RIP.
Saw this on twitter: “@willbuxton: While most teams have brought upgrades to Silverstone, HRT have brought Sakon Yamamoto.” Says it all really, as Yamamoto shouldn’t be anywhere near an F1 car.
Poor Bruno, has done nothing wrong, was looking forward to racing in Silverstone again, to be told last minute like this is just not right. Very poor management by HRT, but then if you look at their sad excuse for an F1 car it’s not surprising they couldnt get that done properly.
If this is the way HRT does racing then I hope they go bust very soon.
Bloody dismal decision, but one could see it coming. It’s worth remembering that back in 2007 when Colin Kolles was the boss at Spyker, he sacked Christijan Albers and put Yamamoto in his place. And Kolles never really liked Bruno to begin with, because his contract, signed when the team was still Campos, states that he has no obligation to bring sponsors to the team (although he has, with Embratel and Banco Cruzeiro do Sul).
“good, i dont like senna.
plus he makes too many silly errors”
Oh well, enjoy watching Yamamoto drive mike….
HRT is a rental team. If I have money to pay it, I would take a place to drive that medieval carriage. Saludos!!
How can you not like Bruno? He and Karun are a totally likeable pairing and are just very unlucky that Lewis and Jenson are putting out those great videos this season or they would be getting a lot more attention.
Your second point makes no sense. A driver with limited racing experience who finished second in his first season of GP2 is being replaced by one who is famous for being an embarrassingly slow crash magnet.
ooh..it’s sad news for senna Fans..
Hope you come back soon senna..
Yamamoto’s head was hanging off after 8 laps in quali today and we saw the same thing in all practise sessions. There is no way he can drive a race distance at his maximum speed tomorrow. He must be praying for 6 safety cars to give his neck a rest.
I would not be at all surprised if he crashes tomorrow through his lack of physical condition.