Narain Karthikeyan says smaller teams play a big role in Formula 1
Hispania Racing Team’s Narain Karthikeyan has recently stated that the smaller teams in Formula 1 play a major role and they should not be ruled out of Formula 1.
“The fact is we are never in contention for the title. But teams like these are equally important for F1. We are all a part of the show. [Those teams] provide the platform for younger drivers and for drivers like me who are coming back. There's this hierarchy in every sport, but it only makes it more interesting,” said Narain.
His home Grand Prix is expected to debut this season near the end of October and since Narain returned to the sport with HRT this year, it is going to be a dream come true for the Indian to race at the inaugural Indian Grand Prix.
He believes that smaller team drivers need to “get a break in the sport” and smaller teams are the only medium through which they can prove themselves in terms of performance. On the other hand, HRT’s technical director, Geoff Willis, has recently stated that he is impressed by his team’s 2011 Formula 1 season’s start, keeping in mind that the team has been going through a lot of problems since the beginning of 2011.
He stated that the team started designing its new car by mid-December and claimed that this new car is around 75-80% new. This can only mean that the team designed this car pretty much from scratch. Geoff said that he is pleased since his team is working really hard on its new car’s performance and they are succeeding as the car is improving in terms of pace with each session.
“We still make mistakes, but I hope we learn from them. It is difficult to say whether it is better or worse than I thought. Starting from the restrictions we had I think we have done an extremely good job but we are all very determined to do a much, much better job,” said Willis.
He added that the team went through a lot and the team should try to focus on its future and try to forget what happened in the past.
Up until now, HRT just barely qualified for the race since the 107 percent rule had been reintroduced this year by the FIA. The new rule states that each team needs to score a certain amount of time within the fastest time of the qualifying session.
Their closest rivals are Virgin Racing Team but Team Lotus is turning out to be better than the three new teams.
However, the team is hoping to bring in some upgrades at the upcoming Turkish Grand Prix including a higher nose, new floor and newly designed exhausts similar to the ones Red Bull Racing Team are using.
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