Hispania Racing Team ready for the 2011 Formula 1 season – Jose Ramon Carabante
Hispania Racing Team (HRT) became a part of Formula 1 this year and after a lot of controversy, the team is ready for another season. There were many rumours that HRT doesn’t have the resources and finances for 2011 and as a result, the team is up for sale
and their 2011 season run was in danger.
These rumours were ruled out by HRT owner Jose Ramon Carabante as he claims that there is no chance that the team will leave Formula 1 and they will be back for another round in 2011. Their car is currently under development but they have not announced their
drivers’ line-up for the next season yet. Both of their drivers have not been confirmed yet and according to the team, they are not in a rush to announce their decision regarding that matter.
The team recently parted ways with Toyota Motorsport GmbH but they are still confident that they will not face any sort of problem before the 2011 Formula 1 season in anyway.
“We will be in Bahrain and also the February test in Valencia. Just like the other teams, our car is moving forward and we are negotiating with drivers. F1 helps your business so I guarantee I will not give it up easily because there are only 12. It's a
global franchise,” Carabante said in an interview.
However, he admits that finding an external sponsor is not easy these days but that does not mean that HRT is out of the game in any way. HRT was clearly the slowest team on the track in 2010 and they finished in 11th place in the drivers’ standings
without scoring a single point.
“It's difficult right now but better times will come. We are negotiating with partners either as investors or sponsors. But I have never thought about selling. I will always keep 51%,” said the Spaniard.
The team is expected to announce their partnership with a powerful Spanish multinational company and according to some reports, it might be Telefonica. However, the team is not up for sale and the team boss recently ruled out these rumours.
“The team is not for sale and never has been. I won't deny that if someone wants to buy 10%, 15% or 25% then we would be happy to be with them, of course. We are negotiating with large Spanish companies, but negotiations are slow and F1 is very fast,” he
added.
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