HRT owner Jose Ramon: Team will race in Melbourne with F111 car – Formula 1 Update
Formula 1 Hispania Racing Team owner, Jose Ramon Carabante has said that the team will not miss the opening race of the season. He confirmed that the team will start the 2011 Formula 1 season debut race in Australia with the new F111 car.
HRT had unveiled its new F111 car on 11 March, 2011, in the presence of both team drivers Narain Karthikeyan and Vitantonio Liuzzi. However, the drivers seemed happy ahead of their upgrade chassis. Karthikeyan accepted the new car as a big challenge of the
season, as he expects that Australian Grand Prix will be a tough start for him and said that he is ready for the challenge and will give his best performance to the team.
As former Force India driver Liuzzi is confirmed for the HRT team, he admitted that a lot of work with the new F111 car is needed and said, “Driving a team to success is much like making a puzzle, you must try to build it in the best possible way in order
to work in harmony and quickly to make up for lost time. I believe we have all the right ingredients needed to be successful."
HRT accepted that the new car took some time to develop and that the delay was not ideal for the team. As the team delayed the 2011 car debut into the test session, Carabante referred to Virgin and Lotus and said, "Maybe we will not finish the first race,
we'll see, but the car will develop from here with the clear aim of fighting with and beating the other two teams that started last year."
HRT chief engineer Toni Cuquerella admitted that 95 per cent of the car is new as they introduced the initial setups into it. Cuquerella said, "We have a Cosworth engine with the latest specification and we have adapted the chassis for the new gearbox and
hydraulics supplied to us by Williams. The collaboration with them (Williams) has allowed us to make a technological step of three years. It is clear that the car is much better than last year's.”
The team principal Colin Kolles commented that HRT managed to have the F111 car in a very short time, as the team experienced a tough winter. He added that he is looking forward to a successful 2011 season as the team introduced advanced features into the
car.
Other than Kolles, HRT president Jose Ramon also appreciated their hard work and stated that the F111 car design is innovative and futuristic.
On the other hand, Carabante told the media that HRT’s 2011 budget is EUR 45 million, as they are negotiating with several sponsors.
The team missed the last Barcelona test of the season, now they will start the new F111 car in the debut race in Australia.
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