Monaco GP: HRT qualifying report

Qualifying debut for HRT F1 Team, Hispania Racing in the streets of Monaco

11.00 - 12.00  FORMULA ONE PRACTICE SESSION 3

Bruno Senna           F110-02 #21    22nd (25 laps)  1.19.720

Karun Chandhok       F110-01 #20    23rd (21 laps)  1.19.781

14.00 - 15.00  FORMULA ONE QUALIFYING

Bruno Senna           F110-02 #21    22nd (12 laps)  1.18.509

Karun Chandhok       F110-01 #20    23rd (14 laps)  1.19.559

HRT F1 Team, Hispania Racing today completed qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix, the sixth qualifying session of the Spanish team’s first F1 season.

Karun Chandhok and Bruno Senna kept their cars out of trouble in the notoriously difficult and unforgiving streets of Monaco clocking best times of 1.19.559 and 1.18.509 respectively.

In the morning third practice session, Karun Chandhok and Bruno Senna were able to fulfil their entire program and drove 46 laps. Chandhok was the first out onto the circuit this afternoon. The drivers will start from 22nd position for Bruno Senna and 23rd position for Karun Chandhok ahead of Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari.

Dr Colin Kolles commented: "Before the third session, we changed some parts and the gearbox on Bruno Senna’s car and we could see clear improvements that reduced the difference to the leading time. In qualifying, times improved from the morning session. Overall, to avoid the walls and to bring the car home in one piece to qualify in Monaco is one of the toughest exercises for a driver and I am pleased with our result."

Karun Chandhok commented: "I am mystified by the lack of pace. It is a bit confusing considering our relative pace in practice both today and on Thursday. I will sit with my engineers tonight and try to understand why we are losing so much time. They are now looking at the differential to try and understand the time deficit to the other cars. We have a 78 lap race tomorrow, so a really long one and we will do the best we can."

Bruno Senna commented: " Today was a good day. For a while I have been struggling with a lack of performance in high speed corners and I would like to thank the team for working tirelessly to analyse and trace that issue. With some new parts for today my car came back to life and I could drive more naturally with confidence again in qualifying. We are working hard with what we're have and I am hopeful of a brighter future."

-source: hrt