Narain Karthikeyan says new car an improvement over its predecessor – Formula 1 news
Narain Karthikeyan says he has noticed a considerable improvement in the new HRT car the F112 over its predecessor.
The first ever Indian driver in the sport was the first one to drive the new HRT car and had plenty of positives to speak of the car.
HRT’s F112 is yet to pass the crash tests in order to participate in the season, but Karthikeyan driving the new car during a filming day says he has noticed prominent improvement in the car and believes it will bring in better results.
“The first impressions are quite good; it's definitely a step up from last year. We couldn't do any set-up work or stuff like that but everything seems to be working fine and there are no major problems so we can look forward to the season now,” he said.
“Everyone has worked hard and the new team management has put everything together in a very short period of time. They've done a proper job with the car and I'm sure that it's a big step forward from last year, so hopefully we can take the competition to
the teams we were fighting last year,” Karthikeyan added.
HRT biggest hurdle at the moment is passing the crash tests but things do not get any easier after that, as they go into the season without any track time on the car to make sure there are no major glitches in the new challenger.
The season has especially seen teams struggle with the new designs as most teams have gone with major changes to their cars because of the new regulation changes made by the FIA. The most impacting was the banning of blown diffuser exhaust and the lowered
height of the nose which has caused the step design to be so prominent on most 2012 cars.
Pedro de la Rosa the other HRT driver was also optimistic over the team’s chances in the 2012 season and said that during the filming Karthikeyan completed a few laps and did not find any major issues with the car which is a good sign for the team.
The season will begin with the Australian Grand Prix as the opening race is scheduled for March 18, 2012.
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