Chandhok dropped from German GP

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Indian Karun Chandhok has been dropped by the Hispania team in favour of their test and reserve driver Sakon Yamamoto for the next grand prix in Germany.
The move comes in the wake of team boss Colin Kolles's decision to drop Brazilian Bruno Senna in favour of the Japanese for the British Grand Prix.
Senna will return for the German GP at Hockenheim on 25 July, where Yamamoto will be the team's other driver.
"I expect to be back for races later in the year," Chandhok told BBC Sport.
Hispania are known to be struggling financially but it is believed they want to evaluate all their drivers before establishing a line-up for 2011.
Hispania have four drivers under contract - Senna, Chandhok, Yamamoto and Austrian former Jaguar and Red Bull driver Christian Klien, who has driven in Friday practice in place of Senna and Chandhok at two races this season.
It is likely that Klien will be given a run in at least one race as well.
Chandhok, 26, said: "As a racing driver it's obviously not great to be missing races but I'm not in contention for the world championship or in a points battle over anything.
"I came into this team looking to establish myself as a credible, respectable Formula 1 driver and I've done that.
"I expect to be back for some races later in the year.
"The team gave me the chance to be in F1 and I have to respect and support this decision.
"At the moment we are talking only about Hockenheim but with four drivers and two cars, it is probably inevitable I will miss some more races.
"We will sit down after Hockenheim and talk about the next race, which is in Hungary the following week.
"Then we have the summer break and we will see what happens. It is a little bit up in the air.
"The team are looking towards 2011. I have talked with Jose Ramon Carabante [team owner] about their plans for 2011 today so it's not like there's been a total breakdown between us or anything. It's just something they want to do now."
He added: "I'm quite relaxed about it. As a racing driver, I want to be racing all the time but I'm still in better shape than I was this time last year."
On Saturday at the British GP, Hispania said Senna would be back in his car for the rest of the season.
The team have not commented on reports that Senna was dropped for Silverstone after sending an internal e-mail criticising Kolles.
Of the German Grand Prix, 26-year-old Senna said: "I am looking forward to the race in Hockenheim as I have had a podium finish in GP2 in 2008 and I really like this track.
"Hockenheim is one of the circuits where downforce is not as important as Silverstone or Barcelona, so I believe we will be slightly more competitive against the other new teams and I hope to have a good battle against them."
Yamamoto, 28, is also relishing taking on the German track.
"I have a lot of good memories of the circuit in Hockenheim," he said.
"I like the track layout with the passing point at the end of the long straight and also the Stadium sector, which is very challenging."
Hispania are one of three new teams in F1 this year - the others are Lotus and Virgin - and have been the slowest so far.
A team statement said: "Sakon Yamamoto gave a very positive performance in Silverstone, the team has decided to give the Japanese driver another opportunity to drive the car alongside Bruno Senna.
"Karun Chandhok is still part of the Hispania Racing family and is likely to be in the car at some later races this season."
The team endured a troubled start to their debut season, with an internal takeover and subsequent name change from Campos Meta to Hispania in the build-up to the 2010 campaign.
And the Spanish marque only just made it on to the grid for the season-opener in Bahrain in March after a race against time to be ready.
They have managed to bring only one performance update to their cars since the start of the season - a new fuel system for the British Grand Prix that enabled them to run the tank down to empty for the first time.
This gains the car a significant amount of time as each 10kg of fuel (about 12 litres) adds an average of about 0.3 seconds a lap to an F1 car - and the figure is more than 0.4secs at Silverstone.
Another update - a new diffuser and other aerodynamic parts - is scheduled for later in the season but it is unclear when it might appear.
Former Williams, BAR and Red Bull designer Geoff Willis is working with Hispania on a consultancy basis as they seek to develop a competitive package.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8829258.stm

They really are desperate to keep Yamamoto on aren't they!
 
Apparently Yamamoto was to repalce Chandhok at Silverstone, but then Senna's e-mail did the rounds and he was dismissed.

Speaking of, this thread could probably go in with the Senna being dropped thread since thy're basically about the same thing.
 
What is so special about Yamamoto?

Oh that's right, I forgot. He has more sponsors behind him. :rolleyes:

From my point of view, HRT are going to crash and burn (In a metaphoric sense).
 
He has more sponsors behind him. :rolleyes:
It's ironic, since the only new sponsor to appear on the car at Silverstone was the Jaypee Group (the name appears on the rollhoop) - the people who own the new Jaypee Group Circuit in India - and they're clearly there because of Chandhok.
 
It's ironic, since the only new sponsor to appear on the car at Silverstone was the Jaypee Group (the name appears on the rollhoop) - the people who own the new Jaypee Group Circuit in India - and they're clearly there because of Chandhok.

So, Chandok has a guaranteed telemarketing position at the Jaypee Group after he retires?? :D
 
hahaha ... all the three drivers are bringing money and who bring the most gets to drive I guess. HRT is like GP2 team. Petrov according to some source is bringing some 10million $ sponsorship. That was one of the criteria. Having said that, Petrov has done some decent races so far. He may get retained if he does well in the second half.
 
What's Petrov got to do with HRT?

It has always been the case that pay drivers get the seats in motorsport except at the very, very top. HRT are no different to all the previous smaller teams. Even Jordan started with one pay driver called M. Schumacher.

It doesn't matter who they put in the car, it isn't going to go much faster, what they really need is money and consistencey in their staff and driver line-up. The problem with keeping switching drivers is that it affects results which overtime gain more money than a short term sponsorship deal.
Kolles needs to consider that the HRT isn't a million miles away from actually beating Lotus and Virgin if they finish a race of attrition. The Dallara's have actually been fairly reliable at double-finishing and the Lotus and Virgin have retired at least 1 car every race. 1 point scored could mean securing the TV prize money for 10th place in constructors (something like £20 million I think).

So far, Bruno has been their fastest driver and has split the Virgins recently and had some decent pace. He is their best bet of points if it ever happens this year.

Well, anyway, not really surprising they are doing the whole merry-go-round with drivers to grab money. If it means anything, I would rather see Chandhok and Senna keeping the seats for next year as they really haven't been given the best chance and they have done an admirable job. Senna has been fast(er) and Chandhok has been reliable and consistent. Yamamoto doesn't appear to bring anything other than money to the table and Klien is probably their best driver but has never been amazing. Both of them have had their time to prove themselves already.
 
He has nothing to do with HRT of course but the sponorship money he brings was the main reason that is what I meant. Quick Nick would have been a better option for Renault but they din't hink so due to some reasons.

Also HRT is too slow to even get top15. They only need to survive and hope there are some 15 DNF.
 
Au contrare, Chandhok has already got two 14th places. 4 more cars out (not beyond the realms of possibility in a really bad wet race) and that would be points. Thats what I'm referring to - but in that case they need to be finishing the race and they need to be ahead of anyone else likely to finish in their B-division championship which is pretty much Virgin as Lotus are beyond them on pace. They want their drivers to be in the car as much as possible and making the most of what they've got rather than sticking drivers in who have to re-learn it all again and don't even seem to have much pace in the first place.

I think Petrov is fine for Renault, they should always invest in young talent otherwise where is it going to come from? I think its fairly likely he's staying for next year though if they really want to finish higher in the constructors they should probably consider a more seasoned but young driver like Alguesuari, Buemi, Sutil, etc. But give Petrov a chance first, he has shown flashes of speed and he is still a rookie.
Saying that, I badly want a top team to pick Kobayashi up, Sauber are good but that team's future is not so certain.
 
I thought it was actually Chandok who was bringing more money in?
 
Right... forgive me if I'm asking the obvious, but why the jesus are they not using Klien right from the start? He's raced with at least some degree of success...
 
Right... forgive me if I'm asking the obvious, but why the jesus are they not using Klien right from the start? He's raced with at least some degree of success...
Money%20stacks.jpg
 
I thought it was actually Chandok who was bringing more money in?

Chandhok's backers were rumoured to be late on payments. I'm not so sure he was bringing that much money either - Senna's sponsors have been the most prominent.

Right... forgive me if I'm asking the obvious, but why the jesus are they not using Klien right from the start? He's raced with at least some degree of success...

Because:
1. Senna already has a contract for the season since they were Campos.
2. Klien didn't have the money together at the start of the year and/or doesn't have the money for a full season.
3. Chandhok had the money for the start of the season/full season.

They signed Klien and Yamamoto pretty late, I think Yamamoto was signed at China and Klien was signed at Spain? I can't remember.

Klien isn't that good anyway, he's probably the best of the 4, but he's not that much better.
 
Klien isn't that good anyway, he's probably the best of the 4, but he's not that much better.

Yeah that's what I was considering.

I had no idea about the other factors though, I just assumed he'd be cashed up to the eyeballs from his Jaguar/Red Bull days, as well as his testing.
 
Yeah, but being the best of 2 rookies and Yamamoto isn't saying much. He was pretty average at best when he was racing, and he hasn't been racing for a long time now.
Its best for HRT to keep a stable and consistent line-up, otherwise their drivers are constantly going to be needing to get used to the car - they're also going to be stuck with pay drivers forever too if there is no show of faith. (after all, if you had the choice of an F1 team, would you really drive for Hispania knowing you could be out of the race seat half way through the year?).

But, for now, its going to be purely money reasons for switching their drivers around. Sponsors and other backers pay more money if the driver is actually racing rather than sitting around being a "reserve".
 
I think Chandok has ridiculous potential. I would love to see him drive for Force India or maybe Williams.

IMO - Just have Klien / Chandok for the rest of the season.
 
Thought this could fit nicely here.


KollesEmail1007261.jpg
 
^ :lol:

Chandok cannot just stay in HRT if he wants to have more success. He had a lot of them in GP2 Series and others. It's easy for me to say this but I think Yamamoto has yet to perform on track, going really off the pace of Bruno and like lighyears behid the drivers of Virgin and Lotus eventhough he's laying more money for HRT.

I see a big potential for Karun to be in Force India, replacing the not-so-well-performing Vitantonio. Could be Di Resta, but Karun needs to move on to have success and be healthy in F1...
 
I see a big potential for Karun to be in Force India, replacing the not-so-well-performing Vitantonio.

I will not tolerate this insolence and blasphemy!
 
Liuzzi is definitely wasting that seat at Force India, I reckon Di Resta has got a bigger chance of it than Chandhok though. If Liuzzi was equalling Sutil, Force India would be far ahead of Williams by now and a bit closer to Renault. Sutil + Di Resta should be a good combo.
 
I will not tolerate this insolence and blasphemy!

Whoopsy, sorry. I really didn't mean to insult him by saying that but from what I see so far, he has yet to perform well this season mainly because of bad luck I think. :nervous: :guilty:

Terribly sorry for Vitantonio fans...
 
What is HRT trying to do by keeping Yamamoto is a drivers seat? He's been consistently dead last in all of his races! HRT isn't getting anything out of this guy.
 
Mooooooney... All mooooney mate. But poor, Chandok might be staying back in the pit. Seatless for probably one of the best race of the year, Belgium GP, Spa Francorchamps!
 
Wait they have to pay to drive? they have got it the wrong way around.
 
I think Yammamoto comes from a high staus family and he pays HRT more money than Senna or Chandhok does so they're keeping him to try and survive in Formula One. I would personally put Christian Klien in.
 
Wait they have to pay to drive? they have got it the wrong way around.

Unless they're a top driver in a top team, it's true.

Either you pay them, or you attract a sponsor to bring in the revenue on your behalf.

Lewis Hamilton is an example of a driver who got a relatively easy ride. But then again, he demonstrated exceptional skill that you rarely see, even in F1.
 
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