Bruno Senna was announced today as the latest recruit to a growing group of reserve and test drivers at Lotus Renault GP, with Romain Grosjean and Fairuz Fauzy also on the list and Jan Charouz and Ho-Pin Tung part of the extended family.
However when asked by this blog team principal Eric Bouillier confirmed that in an emergency Senna would have priority as he is the ‘most ready’, having raced in F1 last year.
“I will give it to the one who is ready,” he said. “Obviously Bruno is the most ready driver. Romain is here as well, and there’s a morale strategy to put back a French driver, which is another subject, but in France there is a concern now no French GP and no more whatever. We have we think a valuable driver, and we would like to put him back in F1, but he has to commit to some stuff beforehand, and GP2 is one of those things.”
He also said it was unlikely that any of the testers would run on Fridays: “If it’s possible it’s only because the engineers on the race team are convinced we can run one Friday morning without affecting the race programme.”
Senna meanwhile will also be a test and development driver for Group Lotus, thus replicating the role his uncle had with Honda.
“It’s a really exciting opportunity from both Group Lotus and Lotus Renault GP,” said Senna. ” To be able to develop my Formula One career within a World Championship winning organisation and to do so in conjunction with some hugely interesting work for such an iconic sports car company as Lotus is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
“Lotus has placed a great deal of faith in me and I am looking forward to beginning work on the technical side of our relationship. Giving feedback into the development of the Lotus road and race programs will be a fun but challenging way to spend time between my Formula One commitments as a reserve driver for Lotus Renault GP.
“My relationship with Lotus is just at the beginning, for me the aim is to continue to make progress in my Formula One career whilst at the same time contributing to the success of the various Lotus projects I will be involved with. There are some fun times ahead!”
“We’re delighted to have Bruno on board,” said Lotus Director of Motorsport Claudio Berro. “In his young motorsport career he’s built up a great armoury of skills and experience. He’s a fast learner and this talent combined with his ability to shift between different types of race car will make him a great asset to Lotus. Normally people like to talk about the ‘technology transfer’ between F1 and road cars but in Bruno’s case we’re opening this up to an intellectual transfer – we’re certainly going to keep him busy!”
It remains to seen how much mileage any of the young guys get in the R31…
Adam Cooper F1 
Geez they have enough drivers to fill a whole grid