The incumbent Principal Luis Perez-Sala suggests a low profile 2012 season for HRT – Formula 1 news
New team Principal Luis Perez-Sala has said that Hispania Racing Team will be taking a step back to take two steps forward in the future.
HRT finished 11th in the Constructors’ Championship for the 2011 season, and were only fighting with minnow teams like Virgin – now known as Marussia – ever since HRT came in to F1 it has not shown any improvement or signs of getting better. The problem
can be blamed towards a less competitive car, but they plan to change that with the addition of Pedro de la Rosa in the team they hope to use his experience towards building a better car.
HRT have not announced their second driver although Tonio Liuzzi has claimed that he still holds a contract with the team for the 2012 season.
“We are in advanced talks with several drivers but we can't anticipate anything yet. It's a decision we surely won't make until the start of next year,” Perez-Sala said.
Perez-Sala took over from Colin Kolles as team Principal, because the latter did not want to make a move out from Munich as HRT is moving their head quarters to Valencia.
Perez-Sala has described the 2012 season as a year for HRT to re-setup its bases in Valencia and on the grid. He said that the team will take its due time to settle in its new location and it might not perform as well as initially targeted because of the
move.
“The task ahead of us, with the design of the car and change of headquarters, is huge,” Perez-Sala said. “Formula One is very complicated and implies a lot of preparation work so, in this respect, HRT is a little bit behind other teams. We will feel the
effects of this transformation the team is going through and will have to “pay” for it at the start of the season.”
It will be interesting to see whether the new team Principal will have an impact that can change the fortunes of HRT, as they are in desperate need of better results, but signals from the incumbent principal do not look to bright for at least the 2012 season.
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