Nick Heidfeld has applied to the High Court in London to stop Lotus Renault GP from putting Bruno Senna into the team. There will be a hearing on September 19 but until then Heidfeld will be replaced by Bruno Senna. Heidfeld argues that he should not be replaced on the basis of performance because he has 34 points and his team-mate Vitaly Petrov has 32. This is an interesting argument in that Heidfeld has 10 years (and two half-seasons) and 183 starts compared to Petrov’s 18 months and 30 starts. Renault is expected to argue that comparisons with Petrov are not relevant as Heidfeld was hired to replace Robert Kubica, who regularly outperformed Petrov and was expected to do the same this year, but was unable to take part because of a rallying accident in February.

Heidfeld says that he believes that his contract should be respected.