Pedro de la Rosa believes HRT will be able to feature in second pre-season test – Formula 1
Pedro de la Rosa believes that Hispania Racing Team will be able to get the latest edition of their car ready for the second pre-season test on February 21, 2012 at Barcelona.
HRT had a dismal performance in the 2011 season and stayed at the bottom of the table in the constructors’ championship.
The team has yet to announce a driver to partner alongside de la Rosa, amid other delays at the camp. The Spanish squad is working hard though to get the car ready in time for the second testing. Another hurdle would be passing the crash tests, as per FIA
it is compulsory for all the cars to pass the crash tests before being eligible to take part in the 2012 season.
So far, all the cars that have went for the crash tests have passed. De la Rosa said that so far the plan is to test the old car at the first pre-season test on February 7, 2012 at Jerez to get some time on the track under his belt.
“It's been said there are delays, but I don't see it that way. I think the whole process of producing the car started very late and the team is making a superhuman effort to have the new car on track on February 21,” de la Rosa said. “I'm very calm. From
the day I signed I knew that this was more or less the plan. It hasn't been modified.”
He added, “The plan is to have a pre-season that is as long as possible. It's always best to do as many kilometres as possible. But it's not a critical situation because it's going according to plan.”
De la Rosa said that only if problems arise with delays in the process of how the plan is being executed is what is going to be problematic unless that happen it is not going to be a big issue as everything has been going according to plan.
So far, Mercedes and Marussia are the other two teams who have confirmed that they will be targeting the second pre-season test. Mercedes will not take part in the first test while Marussia will run its 2011 version of the car.
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