Published>Wed, Jul 07 10 01:37 AM
Brazilian Bruno Senna wants Formula One race director Charlie Whiting to see what can be done to prevent drivers "chopping" each other up on the racetrack.
"It is happening a lot this year where drivers who are overtaking other drivers are just chopping in front too many times," the Hispania (HRT) driver told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday ahead of Sunday's British Grand Prix.
"With the front wing sizes we have, everybody is losing front wings," added the nephew of the late great triple champion Ayrton, who was himself not averse to aggressive manoeuvres.
"The amount of front wings that are being damaged or lost, and punctures on the rear tyres, is ridiculous," Senna continued. "Even if you are not competing for position, sometimes they just chop in front of you.
"I think it's maybe a good idea (to raise with Whiting in the drivers' briefing). We need to see what can be done."
'Rant over," the 26-year-old concluded with a smile, leaning back against the walls of a neighbourhood Italian restaurant adorned with framed black and white pictures of grand prix greats in action.
Senna, whose new team have yet to come anywhere close to scoring a point and are lapped several times if fortunate enough to get to the finish, said the problem did not just affect backmarkers like himself.
He felt, however, that stewards gave more weight to the leading teams, whose racers have complained this season that they are being held up by drivers from the slower new teams.
GOODWOOD THROWBACK
At the most recent European Grand Prix in Valencia, Senna and Virgin Racing's Timo Glock were called to the stewards after they collided while fighting for position in the race.
"He (Glock) caused a problem for the faster cars because he didn't let them pass early enough," said the Brazilian. "That's what they were looking at in terms of penalising, not at the incident itself when he chopped my front wing.
"So I think we need to look at it more seriously."
Senna has limbered up for Silverstone this weekend by driving at Goodwood the McLaren that Ayrton drove to five race wins in 1993, the season before his death at Imola in a Williams.
He had already driven his uncle's 1985 and 1986 Lotus cars elsewhere as well as the 1988 McLaren but it was still a precious moment.
So special that Senna drove back down the hill with one hand on the steering wheel and the other in the air to film the occasion with his camera phone. The result was sent to his 74,000 followers on Twitter (@bsenna).
"It's crazy, you get to feel what they felt then with the cars, how much technology changed from the beginning of his career to the end," said Senna of the drive.
Without being unkind, it was probably the closest Senna will get to driving a race-winning car this season. He laughed at the suggestion.
"At the end of the day you never know what can and cannot happen in the future," he grinned. "All I can do is keep pushing and hopefully get some good results."
"I think I have developed a lot, learned a lot in Formula One," continued the man who finished runner-up in the GP2 support series in 2008 and started on pole at Silverstone in that championship as well as in Formula Three.
"I have improved so much on driving and being assured of myself, in motivation.
"It's very hard to being always used to being in the front and then you start running towards the back. It's very tough being lapped, it hurts you in the mind a lot.
"Even though we know that the car is not competitive...you always expect that you can do something very special. In the end of the day, all I think about is making my career long."
The Brazilian said HRT, despite evident financial constraints on the Spanish-based team, remained his main focus for next year.
"It's a bit frustrating when you are trying to compete but can't," he said. "But at the end of the day my career is not about only this year."
Source: Web Search
0 comments:
Post a Comment