Renault team principal Eric Boullier has done his best to explain the current situation at the Enstone-based outfit, as to why they chose to replace Nick Heidfeld with Bruno Senna part-way through the season.
The Frenchman clearly pointed toward Heidfeld’s less than expected results which have put him just two points ahead of Vitaly Petrov, a driver with almost ten years less experience.
“We reviewed our performance and our level of motivation, a lot of things through the summertime, and I had to take some decision to clearly show some new direction,” he said in Belgium.
“Every session, every weekend, the media jump on me asking why Vitaly is faster than Nick. Every time. I was not very happy with the pure speed of Nick and his global performance as an experienced driver, that is it.”
Boullier insists the team made the right decision in hiring the German as Robert Kubica’s replacement, but he admitted the 34-year-old hadn’t met expectations.
“I was happy with the decision we took with Nick,” he said. “Nick is a nice guy, but I think something did not work. His leadership didn’t work in the team and when you are sometimes slower than Vitaly, in fact most of the time slower than Vitaly, it is difficult for him to push the team and to settle himself as the team leader.”
Boullier denied the move was money motivated, despite estimates putting Heidfeld’s wage at £180,000 per race weekend, compared to the Brazilian who is rumoured to be paying for his seat at the team, much like teammate Petrov.
“No. It is always the same story coming out. It is amazing. Yes there is some relationship with Brazil because Genii [Renault F1 owners] has signed a $10 billion deal in Brazil, but it is nothing related to Bruno. Nothing.”
The matter has now gone to London’s High Court with the hearing set for September 19th. Boullier is confident he and the team have done nothing wrong in regards to contractual obligations.
“Bruno will be driving here and Monza because the High Court gave us the right to do it. Then after, anything can happen because we go to the court. I didn’t break a contract. The best evidence is the court refused [Heidfeld’s action].”
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