Spanish GP: HRT qualifying report

HRT F1 Team, Hispania Racing, prepared for another two car finish at the 2010 Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix

Third Free Practice Session
Karun Chandhok F110-01 #201.26.61118 laps 23rd
Bruno Senna F110-02 #211.30.2466 laps 24th

Qualifying Session
Karun Chandhok F110-01 #201.26.7508 laps
Bruno Senna F110-02 #211.27.1229 laps

Saturday 8th May 2010, Spain: HRT F1 Team, Hispania Racing, completed their fifth qualifying session in the team's history at the 2010 Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix. Karun Chandhok and Bruno Senna clocked 1:26.750 and 1:27.122 respectively. A penalty for changing the gearbox puts back Karun Chandhok behind Bruno Senna for tomorrow`s start.

The qualifying session was preceded by the third practice session of the 2010 Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix, where Chandhok's F110-01 #20 completed 18 laps before calling it a day to allow the team to work on some vibration issues. These vibrations were okay then in qualifying. Similarly, Brazilian Bruno Senna also stopped prior to the end of the session due to hydraulic issues which were hampering his performance. However, hard and dedicated work by the HRT F1 Team, Hispania Racing, mechanics and engineers resulted in both cars ready to compete by the qualifying session, held later in the day.

Dr Colin Kolles, Team Principle and Managing Director, commented: "We are currently investigating how we can produce a more satisfactory set-up for the race. This morning the red flag interruption hampered our work and we generally suffered from a lack of grip from overnight rain. What we need tomorrow is another two cars finish."

Bruno Senna added: "The qualifying today was not as good as planned. In the morning we could not finalize our preparation as much as we would have liked as we had some hydraulic problems. So, we only had a little test this morning session. The gap to Karun's car was big today in qualifying. We hope to understand what problem it is for a better race tomorrow and try to improve it. We want to finish the race again and of course finish well at our home Grand Prix. We will push for it."

Karun Chandhok commented:" Qualifying went as expected so we are quite happy. Our deficit to the other two new teams was what I thought it would be after FP3. For me personally, I'm pleased with the job I did and I think there was potential to be a bit quicker. I really have to thank the mechanics and engineers on my car who worked till 5am to get us out on track today. However we have a penalty for changing the gearbox which will put me back behind Bruno but I look forward to another strong race like the one we had in Sepang tomorrow."

-source: hrt