Pedro de la Rosa: “I’ve Never Raced At Singapore”

Pedro de la Rosa has never raced around the Marina Bay street circuit in Singapore, even though the Spaniard has competed in 100 Grands Prix throughout his career in Formula 1. Regardless of this stat, de la Rosa is confident ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix, a race where HRT are set to introduce several new upgrades.

After a relatively successful Italian Grand Prix, Pedro de la Rosa believes another competitive result can be achieved by the Madrid-based outfit once track action begins under the floodlights around the daunting Marina Bay street circuit. Although Pedro de la Rosa has never raced around the 5.073km circuit, the Spaniard has carried out numerous hours of simulator work on the circuit during his time as a test driver for McLaren.

“I’ve never raced at Singapore but I know the circuit because of my simulator work as a test driver for McLaren.” Explained Pedro de la Rosa, “It’s a spectacular track and probably the toughest circuit on the brakes in the entire Championship besides being a very physically demanding race because of the heat and humidity. We should have a good performance as there are many slow corners and it is quite similar to Monaco. Besides, we’ve got an aero upgrade which should help us to cut down the gap to our rivals. I have to make the most of the practice session to adapt to the circuit but I’m up for the challenge.”

Although HRT have spent the majority of the 2012 season at the back of the pack, it’s undeniable that the Spanish-outfit have a tremendous reliability record. Only once have both cars failed to finish a race this season, at the Canadian Grand Prix when both drivers suffered brake issues on their cars. The teams’ aim is naturally to continue with this decent form of reliability, around one of the toughest circuits on the calendar.

Picture Copyright © HRT F1 Team

Mercedes Targeting Zero-Defect Reliability

The 2012 season has so far been a mixture of elation and misery for the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 team, after they stormed to their first victory at the Chinese Grand Prix since 1955, yet they have also been plagued with reliability issues.

Michael Schumacher has been hit the most with these issues, and has retired due to gearbox, fuel pressure and hydraulics related issues throughout 2012. The 7-time World Champion has only managed to score two World Championship points so far, whereas his team-mate Nico Rosberg has finished every race so far, scoring 67 points along the way including his maiden Grand Prix victory. Regardless of the disappointing results, Michael Schumacher has remained confident in his team.

“Our entire focus is now on the race in Valencia, and I am sure that everybody’s motivation is even stronger because the weekend in Canada didn’t go as well as we had hoped.” Explained Michael Schumacher, “Our motto in the last few days has been to roll our sleeves up and focus on the job in hand; everybody in the team has taken that approach to heart, so we can travel to Valencia in an optimistic mood.”

Mercedes’ team principal Ross Brawn is hopeful that his team can bring both cars to the finish, without any reliability issues. The aim within the team is to achieve zero-defect reliability, which would then greatly assist the team in their Championship chances come seasons end.

“The performance of our car and our tyre management were generally good in Canada, however our competitiveness was compromised by reliability problems and mistakes.” Said Ross Brawn, “This is a disappointment that is deeply felt by everyone in our team, and we have been working hard to ensure we understand the reasons and deal with them. Achieving zero-defect reliability is our highest priority. The opportunities available if we can give both drivers a reliable car and a clean weekend are clear.”

Michael Schumacher has yet to step onto the podium since making his return to F1 in 2010, and is under threat of becoming the number two driver to Nico Rosberg. If Schumacher fails to achieve decent results in the next few races, team orders could begin to favor Rosberg as the 26-year-old battles for the Championship.

Picture Copyright © Mercedes AMG Petronas 

HRT Confident On Qualifying Within 107% Rule

After a disastrous season-opener in Australia last weekend, things are now starting to look up for the HRT team, as they set times within the 107% rule during FP2 and continued to improve as the day went on. Although Karthikeyan suffered from some hydraulic issues, the general feeling is positive within the HRT camp.

“We’ve worked very hard these past days to fix the issues we encountered in Australia.” Explained the teams Chief Race Engineer, Toni Cuquerella, “Today was a normal Friday and a good day to validate the car’s systems. The priority is for the car to work and we checked that the DRS functioned without problems and resolved the majority of the hydraulic issues. We took another step forward on the track today and improved our lap times, but we’ve still got to improve a lot to make up for the time we lost with respect to our rivals. Tomorrow we will continue to work on optimizing cooling in race distance but, generally, we are satisfied with how the day went”.

The team completed a total of 66 laps during todays running, and with only minor hydraulic issues on Karthikeyan’s car, the day was very satisfactory for the team. With obvious reliability improvements, the Spanish outfit will now be hoping they can qualify within the 107% rule.

“For the first time we were able to try out different solutions on this car,” explained Pedro de la Rosa, “The DRS is working, the power steering has improved from Australia and, although we’re not where we would like to be, we’ve taken a considerable step forward. The sensations improved as the day wore on and the car behaved better from the morning to the afternoon.”

However, Narain Karthikeyan has spoken of cooling issues on the car, something which can have a devastating effect, especially in the Malaysian heat.

“In the morning session we suffered some reliability issues, the same as in Melbourne but not as bad and we’ve also got some cooling issues too.” Said Narain Karthikeyan, “In the afternoon these issues persisted on turns 13 and 14 where I wasn’t able to select the gears properly but the important thing is that we’re within the 107% time and can continue to improve and be in better conditions.”

The team will be hoping these improvements continue over the weekend, and that they can qualify for their first race of 2012.

Picture Copyright © HRT F1 Team