HRT

Hispania

FIA Entry: HRT F1 Team
Car 22: Narain Karthikeyan
Car 23: Vitantonio Liuzzi
Engin:e Cosworth V8
Team Principal: Colin Kolles
Technical Director: Geoff Willis
Race Engineer Car 22: Angel Baena
Race Engineer Car 23 Richard Connell

Stats as of end 2010

First Entered 2010
Races Entered 19
Race Wins 0
Pole Positions 0
Fastest Laps 0
Driver World Championships 0
Constructor World Championships 0

Campos Racing

Having run cars in lower formulae former F1 driver Adrian Campos secured one of the 3 places for new teams in F1 for 2010. He commissioned Dallara to build a chassis and signed a deal to use Cosworth engines and Xtrac gearboxes. They also announced that Bruno Senna, nephew of Ayrton, would drive for them.

Struggling for funds, especially to pay for the Dallara Chassis, Campos was bought out by major shareholder in Campos Racing Jose Ramon Carabante and the team renamed Hispania Racing Team

HRT

The team’s financial problems meant they were unable to take part in any pre-season testing and arrived at the first race with Karun Chandhok partnering Senna in completely untried cars. Unsurprisingly both cars were somewhat off the pace and retired early on. By Malaysia reliability had improved, if not speed, and both cars finished.

Continuing financial problems meant both Senna and Chandhok were substituted for Sakon Yamamoto, at various races and at the end of the season Christian Klien was drafted in to try and move the team further up the grid. Despite their poor pace the team finished 11th out of 12 in the Constructors Championship on count back of minor placing’s.

2011

Financial problems continue to dog the team into 2011 and they again missed pre-season testing as the new F111 car wasn’t built in time. Jordan driver from 2005 Narain Karthikeyan is partnered by Force India refugee Vitantonio Liuzzi and the team continue with Cosworth engines.
 
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With the current status of the drivers market you have to think that HRT are probably laughing their heads off at the choice they have for their last seat.

If we assume Sutil takes the Williams role it means you have Barrichello, Alguersauri, Buemi, D'ambrosio, Petrov, Senna, Heidfeld and Liuzzi to name a few to chose from all desperate to stay in F1. Who the hell would have thought that?

Mr Perez-Sala's first job might be to sit at a desk and work out which one has the biggest bag of money for him to spend on the new car.
 
Interesting quote from the new boss

"The task ahead of us, with the design of the car and change of headquarters, is huge. Formula One is very complicated and implies a lot of preparation work and, in this respect, HRT is a little bit behind other teams. We will feel the effects of this transformation the team is going through and will have ‘pay’ for it at the start of the season. We’re not going to be at the same level as when we finished this past season, where the same team had been running for two years, but we’re aware of that. We’re taking a step back so that we can take two forward. 2012 will be an important year for us to settle and face a more natural and stable situation in 2013."

Looks like he expects them to be firmly planted at the back. I hope they have enough cash to last until this 2 steps forward in 2013!
 
HRT have always seemed on the verge of folding and this recent announcement just reinforces that.

A major restructuring and relocation after just two years? Madness.
 
RasputinLives said:
With the current status of the drivers market you have to think that HRT are probably laughing their heads off at the choice they have for their last seat.

If we assume Sutil takes the Williams role it means you have Barrichello, Alguersauri, Buemi, D'ambrosio, Petrov, Senna, Heidfeld and Liuzzi to name a few to chose from all desperate to stay in F1. Who the hell would have thought that?
Click to expand

I think the several of those drivers that you have named are "probably laughing their heads off" of the thought of going to HRT.
 
If they're becoming a "Spanish national team", would a driver of Catalan/Basque origin snub them? I know Squire is an Espanyol supporter (which suggests some 'Spanish' feeling for those not versed with the social aspects of football support in Barcelona) but could this lead to a problem?
 
Intersting news coming out of HRT

http://en.espnf1.com/hrtf1/motorsport/story/67657.html

So Alguersauri turned them down and Clos and any other Spaniard has been ruled out. Also they are looking for a young driver and that pretty much rules out Liuzzi too.

I think we can rule Bruno Senna out after his last spell at HRT too so who does that leave?

The only non-rookie the description fits is D'ambrosio to be honest but I can't see that happening. You have Bianchi and Sam Bird on the verge of F1 backed by bigger teams who'd bring money in (Ferrari and Merc respectivly) if those teams wanted to give their young drivers some F1 experience like Red Bull did with Ricciardo last year. If they were going for a young driver with true potential the Canadian Robert Wickens who beat Vergne to the Formula Ranult 3.5 title last year is still avaliable.

However I will repeat what I put on this thread early - they gave Friday running time to Jan Charouz who is a young Czech driver who has a lot of money behind him so my money is on him.

Whats anyone else think?
 
Dunno about the driver but the chances of them having having something ready for the start of the season look pretty slim so Pedro might be lining up at the back on his mountain bike. Who in their right mind stops the production of the most important part of a Grand Prix team, the car, half way through just to satisfy the desire to be "Spain's National Team"?

I've quite enjoyed watching HRT so far as they appeal to my British underdog streak. I can see they are just going to piss me off now. What are they hoping Alonso will suddenly think to himself "Sod this going for race wins and Championships at Ferrari and being feted as a God by the most passionate sports supporters in the World. I'd much rather drive for a pointless bunch of no hopers at the back of the grid 'cos they're Spanish!"
 
I understand your anger at them FB but I don't think they're aim to be 'Spain's National Team' but to find places to source better sponsors and to find its own identity. Yes they've probably damaged their chances for 2012 but hopefully will have everything in place for the big rebuild in 2013.

I think the relocation to Spain is about establishing the team a unique F1 identity and about attracting finance in from areas they wouldn't normally get it. Maybe in the long term sacraficing production for 2012 is the price to pay to secure the team stays in F1 in the long term.
 
Not in the short term no but the message I get from HRT is they're trying to establish foundations for a team that can exist in F1 for a long time without having to rely on being bought out by this company or the other every 3 years.

I coould be wrong of course
 

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