Breaking News - Renault drop Heidfeld

German Nick Heidfeld has been dropped by the Renault team in favour of Brazilian Bruno Senna for this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix.

Renault made a promising start to the 2011 season but their form has slipped amid rumours of funding shortages, which the team have denied.

While Heidfeld is on a salary, Senna, Renault's reserve driver, comes with several million pounds of sponsorship.

It will be Senna's first race since last season, when he drove for HRT.

The 27-year-old nephew of the late Brazilian legend Ayrton Senna is expected to race for Renault in the eight remaining races this season alongside Russian Vitaly Petrov.

Senna made his debut for HRT last season but left the team after a trying year with the struggling outfit.

He joined Renault this season in the hope that he would eventually be promoted to a race drive.

Heidfeld was drafted in by Renault before the start of the season as a replacement for the team's number one driver, Robert Kubica, who was seriously injured in a rallying crash in February.

The Pole suffered a partially severed hand and leg and arm fractures and is still recuperating and it remains unclear when - or if - he will be able to return to F1.

Kubica's doctors told Autosport magazine last week that he hoped to be fit enough to drive in an F1 simulator by the end of September.

Heidfeld, a veteran of 10 years in F1, was chosen as his substitute because of the 34-year-old's proven points scoring record.

But after a podium in the second race of the season in Malaysia, he and the team have not been able to reach the same heights again.

Nevertheless, Heidfeld has scored points in five further races, and lies eighth in the championship two points clear of Petrov, who is in his second season in F1.

Kubica finished last season eighth in the championship, scoring 136 points to Petrov's 27.

source: bbc

Not much of a shock there... it will be interessing though to see how Senna gets on at a better team seeing as how Aryton said he would be better then him, interessing times ahead.

Yeah im not suprised either at the fact that Heidfeld has been replaced. yes it will be interesting to see how senna will do, he'll be able to prove that little bit more as to how good he can be - the Renault isnt a bad car, but does need improving.

I wonder what Petrov will be like at Spa as he is now the lead driver and might be under pressure if Kubica comes back and Senna drives well.

Petrov won't be under pressure he's got bucket loads of money which renault need

I don't expect Senna will perform much better than Heidfeld, but at least he's now in a car capable of finishing in the points.

It'll be interesting to see how he does. Maybe he'll surprise everyone and end up catching the eye of one of the Big 3?

Just wondering what the deal is with his sponsorship. In situations where drivers bring money into a team, do the sponsors only cough up if the driver gets races, or does the team bank the money regardless?

Or maybe Renault are just worried Bruno will take his millions elsewhere if he doesn't get a drive?

Senna should at least be able to give us a better idea of how good he is, as the car is more up to the job. Though i cant see the top 3 being interested, they have their drivers sorted, unless of course he was purely a test driver, but cant see senna being content with jsut that.

AFAIK its in the contract of the driver ie they'll be contracted to a certain number or percentage of races they'll compete in. They'll get the money regardless, but the driver will be expected to be taking part in so many races.