HRT Considering Future Name Change

Spanish Formula 1 team HRT have announced they are considering a future name change, as the team continues to evolve after successfully moving into their new headquarters in Madrid. This would be the teams third name change, after making their debut back in 2010.

Initially, once the team announced plans to enter Formula 1 in late 2009, they were known as Campos Meta. This name was a combination of the teams initial founding members Adrían Campos of Campos Racing and Enrique Rodríguez of Meta Image, a Madrid-based sports agency.

However, as financial troubles gripped the team prior to their debut, majority shareholder José Ramón Carabante took full control of the team and rebranded them as the Hispania Racing Team (HRT). In 2011, Luis Perez-Sala joined the team and eventually replaced Colin Kolles as team principal at HRT. Around that time, the Spanish outfit dropped the Hispania Racing Team title, and are now known only as the HRT F1 Team. Although this could change once again in the future, as the team continue their reconstruction.

“We are thinking about that [name change],” said Luis Perez-Sala in an interview with AutoSport. “But no decision has been taken about changing the name. Now, we are HRT. In the future we will see. There is no plan at the moment but it is true that we are thinking about it.”

HRT are set to make Spanish F1 history this weekend, as they run an all-Spanish line-up on Friday morning’s practice session in a Spanish car at the Spanish Grand Prix. This will see reserve driver Dani Clos team-up with fellow countryman and F1 veteran Pedro de la Rosa.

Picture Copyright © HRT F1 Team 

Narain Karthikeyan Fills Final Vacancy On 2012 Grid

Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan has been confirmed at HRT for the coming season, filling the final vacancy on the 2012 grid. This comes only days after it was rumored he could well return to HRT, who incidentally had him replaced halfway through last season.

Narain Karthikeyan raced for the Spanish outfit for the first half of last season, before being replaced by Australian rookie Daniel Ricciardo. Karthikeyan reappeared only once again in 2011 at his inaugural home Indian Grand Prix, surprisingly replacing Tonio Liuzzi.

Narain Karthikeyan will team-mate fellow F1 returnee Pedro De La Rosa, the Spaniard making his return to full-time racing after juggling test driver roles for McLaren and the occasional race drive for Sauber.

“It has taken a lot of hard work to make this happen but I am absolutely elated to feature on the 2012 grid with HRT F1 Team.” Said Narain Karthikeyan on the official HRT website, “I was pleased with our strong performance at the Indian Grand Prix, in front of my passionate home fans and I look forward to building on this result in 2012. I have been training hard since the end of 2011, ensuring I was ready for the rigors of F1 if an opportunity arose. I am delighted to have signed with HRT F1 Team. With the new management, Pedro, and the team, there is definite potential for progress. We need to understand that F1 is new to India, we hosted our first race only last year which was a resounding success. To build on that momentum, an Indian driver will certainly keep the interest engaged throughout the season. I am proud to secure an opportunity to forge a stronger connection between India and Formula 1 once again”.

HRT will join the other Formula 1 teams at Jerez next week in preparation for the first pre-season test, with Pedro De La Rosa behind the wheel before Narain Karthikeyan joins them from the second test onwards.

Colin Kolles Leaves HRT

HRT have announced that their current Team Principal, Colin Kolles, is set to leave the team after they came to an agreement to end their partnership. Colin Kolles has headed the team since its debut in the sport in 2010 after a deal with Adrian Campos failed to materialize.

The team announced that their main reason for this move is because of the new direction the team is taking with moving their Headquarters to Spain, where beforehand they were based in Germany where they used a factory owned by Colin Kolles. 

The team released a statement saying, “HRT F1 Team would like to thank Dr. Colin Kolles for his work and dedication throughout these past two years and wish him the best in his future projects.”

It is undeniable that without the assistance of Colin Kolles, HRT would probably have not made it to Bahrain for the start of the 2010 season after the teams original plans with Adrian Campos fell through. 

With Pedro De La Rosa the only driver currently confirmed at HRT for the 2012 season, they are adamant they will design and build their own car for 2012 as well as have it ready in time for the pre-season test in February.

Pedro De La Rosa Signs For HRT

Ex-McLaren Test Driver, Pedro De La Rosa, has secured himself a full time drive in Formula 1 for the next two years after signing for the HRT team, a contract that begins next season.

The Spanish driver is now 40 years old, and has expressed his determination to return to the sport after last racing in F1 earlier in the year at the Canadian Grand Prix for Sauber in place for the injured Sergio Perez. 

He began his Formula 1 career way back in 1999 for Arrows, securing himself a point at his first ever race in Australia by finishing 6th, a feat which he replicated a year later in the 2000 European and German Grands Prix, once again for Arrows. In 2001 he started the season without a drive, however after only four rounds he replaced Luciano Burti at Jaguar, alongside Eddie Irvine and again finished only two races in the points with 6th at the 2001 Canadian Grand Prix and 5th at the 2001 Italian Grand Prix. In 2002 he had his worst ever season in the sport as he failed to score a single point for Jaguar, which left him heading into 2003 without a drive.

Without a full time drive for 2003, he joined McLaren as a test driver, and that’s where he stayed until 2010 when he signed for Sauber. In that time, he raced numerous races for McLaren, one in the 2005 Bahrain Grand Prix where he replaced the injured Juan Pablo Montoya and finished 5th. He replaced Montoya again in 2006 when it was announced Montoya was headed to America to join the Nascar scene, and De La Rosa achieved his first ever podium in the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix finishing 2nd behind Jenson Button in his Honda as he secured his first ever race win. After that season, Kimi Raikkonen left McLaren as Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton joined the team whilst Pedro De La Rosa was demoted once again back to his test driver role. 

Pedro De La Rosa failed to get a drive for McLaren again and henceforth signed for Sauber in 2010 alongside Japanese rookie Kamui Kobayashi who amazingly out raced the more experienced De La Rosa as he was replaced mid-season by Nick Heidfeld. In 2011, he once again found himself without a drive and was only able to get behind the wheel once this season when Sergio Perez injured himself during Qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix and he was loaned out by McLaren.

For the first time since 1999 and 2000 it looks like De La Rosa finally has the resources to race for two seasons back-to-back, albeit with HRT who are at the moment still floundering around at the back of the grid. Pedro De La Rosa has, however, mentioned this and has already admitted it will be a tough challenge taking the team further.

Whether or not this fact will affect his racing, it will undoubtedly be a step forward for the team who have so far only raced with less experienced drivers, the most experienced being that of Vitantonio Liuzzi this season who has proven less than an asset for the team after suffering many poor results.

HRT To Extend Williams Partnership Into 2012

 

It was announced today that the HRT Formula 1 team have extended their deal with Williams which permits use of their gearbox and also a new addition of KERs for 2012. 

HRT are currently lying last in the Constructors’ Standings whereas Williams are only 5 points ahead of them and are currently struggling in their worst season in their history in F1. 

The extension of this deal will now permit HRT to use the KERs device, something which they haven’t had on their cars this season and which could well boost them into the right direction of gaining their first ever points in F1. 

Since their first race in last years Bahrain Grand Prix, HRT have struggled to make an impact on the F1 world and have since used 7 different drivers with a mix of rookies such as Bruno Senna, Karun Chandhok and Daniel Ricciardo and experienced drivers such as Christian Klien, Tonio Liuzzi and Narain Karthikeyan. Even using many different drivers in such a short time, their highest finish in a race has yet to better 14th, and that was in the 2010 Australian and Korean Grands Prix. 

HRT Team Principal, Colin Kolles, will be hoping that these new additions to next years car will have a positive effect on the team and push them towards higher finishes next season. 

Aldo Costa And Geoff Willis Join Mercedes GP

Former Ferrari Technical Director, Aldo Costa and former Red Bull and HRT Technical Director, Geoff Willis have both joined the Mercedes GP team, a move that will undoubtedly strengthen their 2012 car design.

Mercedes, who took over the one-hit wonder Brawn GP team in 2009, have since settled as the next best team after Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull although they have undoubtedly the most accomplished driver in the history of the sport, Michael Schumacher. However, Schumacher has up until recently been overshadowed by his younger team-mate Nico Rosberg who has been the only driver out of the two to achieve podiums in the last two seasons so far. Schumacher has come enticingly close, but has yet to step on the podium since the 2006 season with Ferrari.

This has sparked question marks over Schumacher’s current career in Formula 1, after winning 5 of his 7 World Championships with Ferrari between 2000-2004 and his first two with Benetton in 1994 and 1995, he has returned to F1 after his retirement in 2006 without a single Pole-Position or win to his name…yet.

With these two new Technical Directors joining Mercedes, it is obvious they are pushing to design a car that next season will be competitive enough to deliver Rosberg his maiden F1 win and Schumacher his 92nd Grand Prix win, his last being at the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix. The German is showing no interest in leaving Mercedes and is undoubtedly enjoying his return to F1.

Aldo Costa started his F1 Career as Chief Designer at Minardi in 1988 and in 1989 became the teams Technical Director, however Minardi failed to achieve decent results with only 4 points scoring finishes in 1988 and 1989 combined. The following seasons saw Minardi continue with these sporadic achievements with point scoring finishes in every other season, but the general consensus was that when Minardi took one step forward, they took two steps back. So in 1995, Costa moved to Scuderia Ferrari, and in 1998 became the assistant to the teams Chief Designer Rory Byrne.

Geoff Willis started his F1 Career as Chief Aerodynamicist at Williams, and in 2001 joined BAR which was later bought by Honda in 2005. In 2006, Willis started to have conflicts with Honda and eventually left the team to go and join Red Bull Racing in 2007 as the Team’s Technical Director under Adrian Newey. This partnership lasted all but 2 years and in 2009 he left Red Bull for what are still unknown reasons. In 2010, Willis joined the fledgling Hispania Racing Team (HRT) however last month (September 2011) he left the team after receiving no assurance of financial backing necessary for him to start designing the 2012 HRT car.

And so Aldo Costa and Geoff Willis, both from different team backgrounds, are now set to be working together to try and help pull Mercedes GP from the midfield up to the sharp end of the grid for next season. And what with Ross Brawn, Norbert Haug and Michael Schumacher within the team, they could be a fighting force next season…

Will Narain Karthikeyan Return?

Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan has practically confirmed that he will return to HRT in time for the inaugural Indian Grand Prix in October along with a new sponsor for the team in Hero Motors. Karthikeyan was dropped for the British Grand Prix earlier in the year and replaced by Aussie rookie Daniel Ricciardo, although at the time the team did speculate that he could return for the Indian Grand Prix.

It’s has become common knowledge amongst the F1 fraternity that the HRT team have become the modern day Minardi for Forti, and are struggling to keep their heads above water. It’s for this reason that for the last season and a half they have had seven different drivers including two Indian drivers, and Bruno Senna who is now racing for Renault. The main reason for this is sponsorship money and when one drivers money dries up, the team start to panic and search for other alternatives, which almost always in F1 terms means a driver change. We’ve seen it before with pay drivers like Domenico Schiattarella in the 1990s who raced for Simtek and Jean-Denis Deletraz for Pacific.

Last season HRT ditched Karun Chandhok and replaced him initially with Japanese driver Sakon Yamamoto then towards the end of the season we saw the return of ex Red Bull driver Christian Klien. Could this season be the same? Could HRT return Karthikeyan for the Indian Grand Prix just for the spectacle of having an Indian driver racing the Indian Grand Prix and then change him again? I sincerely hope not. But then again sadly think they will.

Narain Karthikeyan made his F1 debut in the 2005 Australian Grand Prix with the Jordan Grand Prix team, and in his first race finished a reasonable 15th. It wasn’t until the highly controversial 2005 American Grand Prix when Karthikeyan made himself a known driver amongst the fans, by being one of only six drivers to take the grid! The remaining fourteen cars retired after the parade lap due to safety concerns with their Michelin tyres, therefore only the six remaining Bridgestone runners started.

This therefore allowed Karthikeyan to essentially start 4th on the grid, and that’s where he finished. His team-mate of the season, Portuguese driver Tiago Monteiro finished 3rd and (yep, you guessed it) the two Ferrari’s finished 1st and 2nd.

After this season in F1, Karthikeyan left the sport and apart from performing in testing duties for Williams in late 2005 and 2006, didn’t race again until the Australian Grand Prix of this year.

I’d personally like to think they’d keep Karthikeyan for the rest of the season, as combined with Tonio Luizzi, they have high experience in F1. But as we’ve grown to know in F1 nowadays is that money talks…