The HRT thread

[slowest_indian]

Crazy ole Joe Saward seems to think that the cars are currently being held ransom by Holzer as the team are yet to pay for them and may well not make it to Oz...

Anyone can confirm/deny this? I know Sawards' impartiality towards the team has been questioned but still...

[cbbcisace]

Crazy ole Joe Saward seems to think that the cars are currently being held ransom by Holzer as the team are yet to pay for them and may well not make it to Oz...

Anyone can confirm/deny this? I know Sawards' impartiality towards the team has been questioned but still...

Ignore him, his posts about HRT have been questionable to say the least..

Plus why would a company of Holzer's size put together 2 F112's and let them shake them down??

[xxiiooiixx]

[Klon]

I'm afraid I need a bit more context on these pictures. I mean, the only thing I see in them is Marussia having their rear wheels and therefore their rear suspension slighly closer to the front.

[AndreaModa]

They're also all at slightly different angles, so it's difficult to tell, for example, how high the nose is for each car in comparison to the others.

[FMecha]

Is it just me, or does it current HRT's livery look like 2008 Force India?

[eurobrun]

Is it just me, or does it current HRT's livery look like 2008 Force India?

Now that I think about it that HRT looks a lot like a 2008 Force India (and it will probably be just as fast )

[Wizzie]

Is it just me, or does it current HRT's livery look like 2008 Force India?

Now that I think about it that HRT looks a lot like a 2008 Force India (and it will probably be just as fast )

I still firmly believe Force India should have used their pre-season test livery for 2008.

[cbbcisace]

By cbbcisace at 2012-03-08

New photo from our Engineer friend on Facebook.

The 2 areas I am interested in is that all these photos aren't showing the Nose forward..

Also around the exhaust area, different bodywork to the shakedown bodywork (it was ill fitting) so this looks like the final bodywork.

[JeremyMcClean]

Is it just me, or does it current HRT's livery look like 2008 Force India?

Now that I think about it that HRT looks a lot like a 2008 Force India (and it will probably be just as fast )

Looks more like a Toyota when viewed from the bird's eye view...

[Peter]

Reminds me more of good old Super Aguri. I really like it, just needs a few sponsors to fill up the car, and I think we might have ourselves the best looking car on the grid this year, after the McLaren, of course.

[AndreaModa]

Am I the only one who thinks they sneezed that Tata logo onto the engine cover? I mean I could do a better job with those car templates in Paint.NET! Look how wonky it is!

[BlindCaveSalamander]

Am I the only one who thinks they sneezed that Tata logo onto the engine cover? I mean I could do a better job with those car templates in Paint.NET! Look how wonky it is!

I think it's supposed to fit with the curvature of the engine cover... or something.

[AdrianSutil]

Loving the epic-small sponsors at the very bottom, including Yamimoto!!

[solarcold]

Loving the epic-small sponsors at the very bottom, including Yamimoto!!

Made me wonder as well. Do they leave it as it is? Is the sponsorship contract worth 3$ or they're gonna fit them into the livery?)

[DanielPT]

Loving the epic-small sponsors at the very bottom, including Yamimoto!!

Made me wonder as well. Do they leave it as it is? Is the sponsorship contract worth 3$ or they're gonna fit them into the livery?)

If it's 3$, I want to put my name there, please.

[AdrianSutil]

Maybe HRT are planning to announce a major sponsor soon? Which is why they've left most of the car empty. Unless the sponsors are only throwing a little bit of cash in, hence the tiny logos.

[Yannick]

What? HRT have actually tested their car?!

This is impressive. To be honest, I did not expect any car to appear from them anywhere at all. Kudos to the team for getting some shakedown miles in before the first race.

I wonder what The Whole Spanish Press will say about this - if it still knows its password that is.

[solarcold]

I like it how Marussia has 8 discussion pages given HRT has 50.

[David AGS]

Loving the epic-small sponsors at the very bottom, including Yamimoto!!

These are not sponsors though, they are suppliers.

At this stage, TATA and KH7 are their sponsors. It is normal for 'suppliers' to have small space

But, I do think they could have given them more space, unless, they are about to announce a big backer who wants all the space!

[Wizzie]

Loving the epic-small sponsors at the very bottom, including Yamimoto!!

These are not sponsors though, they are suppliers.

At this stage, TATA and KH7 are their sponsors. It is normal for 'suppliers' to have small space

But, I do think they could have given them more space, unless, they are about to announce a big backer who wants all the space!

Rumours the EU are planning to become title sponsors proved inconclusive

[xxiiooiixx]

I like it how Marussia has 8 discussion pages given HRT has 50.

Yes also in other forums HRT gets loads of attention. You either want to ridicule them or Support them for the enormous obstacles they have to face. If you truly appreciate what kind of struggle they have then a person can only support them. HRT will do well one day

[David AGS]

Even on that J_ E S_ W_ R D page, there were fans pounding him, like HRT fail their crash test, you criticise them big time, then when Virgin fail theirs, there is hardly a mention and so on.

I think if they can get 1 car to the finish they will be happy.

Then get to the mid season test, all their new backers chip in millions, they top the time sheets, develop their car heavily, get KERS running and they will fight for points!

[Aerond]

Today there was a pretty good interview with Pedro de la Rosa in Marca. Was more about his personality rather than anything else but still a good read. I´ll try to bring the newspaper later and post it here translated.

[cbbcisace]

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos- ... 2593_n.jpg

The F112's have arrived

So much for good old Joe Saward saying that the cars wouldn't arrive in Australia...

[RealRacingRoots]

I refuse to say JS's name from here on out.

JSNSNBM

[Ferrim]

Journalist Whose Name Shall Not Be Mentioned By Anyone Except HWNSNBM! (JWNSNBMBAEHWNSNBM)

[Aerond]

Here´s the De la Rosa interview (in Spanish): http://www.marca.com/2012/03/11/motor/formula1/1331470386.html

This is a rough translation (better than Google though):

Q: The last time we met you told me "I´m the reserve goalkeeper and that is the worse thing"
A: Here an ex-reserve goalkeeper! Now I´d say I´m more like a Defender. I´m on first team, but there´s still a long way to score a goal. I want to be a striker. Who wouldn´t? The team is not ready to attack yet, we like to defend with 11 players in our area and keep our goal clean (laughs). We need to grow to score goals. That´s reality.

Q: Can there be surprises in Formula 1 like in Spanish Cup (football cup, where this year a very modest team reached semi-finals)
A: Formula 1 is similar to Spanish Football League. It´s a two-way game. There´s two big teams, Ferrari and McLaren, and, as I support Barça, I´d tell you that Ferrari is like Real Madrid and Mclaren like Barcelona.

Q: Excuse me, but Red Bull is winning right now
A: Red Bull is like Renault a few years ago. It´s one of those teams that can win the League from time to time, but I wouldn´t say they´ll be in that position in 20 years time. On the contrary, I can tell that Ferrari and McLaren will.

Q: Driving was your obsesion. What did you tell yourself when the opportunity didn´t arise?
A: I asked myself what would I´d like to do, and it was very clear in my mind that I wanted to keep driving! What I didn´t want to do was to wake up in the morning to go to the office and know what goes next.

Q: Did you ever think you weren´t being valued?
A: Completely, but only in Sauber. I don´t want to be a loudmouth, but I´ve never doubted the opportunity would come. I reckon, and I don´t know what I´ve done wrong, that I never drove a decent car. That´s the only thing I have yet to do and I don´t want that to never happen. I´ve worked with the best, with Fernando Alonso, who to me is an incredible driver, with Hamilton, Button, Raikkonen and I know, that in my life, I have nothing to envy from them, that the only difference is that I never had the chance to drive a competitive car. That´s my unfinished bussiness. That´s why I´m here, because the project at HRT is unique and it comes at the best moment. If I don´t take this chance...

Q: It´s not the first time I hear you say about the last chance
A: Ok, I won´t say it again! I´m 41 and I´m very lucky. The other day, Reyes, my wife, told me "Your eyes look the same way as when you started with Arrows in 1999, and that´s why I feel calm". There´s a lot of people who have critisized me for taking this choice at the end of my sporting career. I just had signed a new contract with McLaren, a long term contract which secured my future.

Q: How did you tell it to Martin Whitmarsh?
A: It was the most emotive moment. I thought he would throw his laptop at me and call me miserable. It was very hard for me to tell him. I wasn´t getting to the point in that conversation, then he told me; "What do you want to tell me?". When I told him I wanted to go to HRT, that I wanted to compete again, there was a long silence, but he said: "You must be crazy, but I love that my reserve driver is so crazy and so passionate. That means that we had the right guy".

Q: A guy that didn´t mind leaving a big team, lose money and sit at the back of the grid. DId you ever have doubts?
A: Yes, until the team finished its structure there was a thing. Something that is fundamental to me; who I´d work with. I don´t mean the mechanics or engineers, but the managers. Many times you sign a contract and suddenly you´re working with people you don´t want to work with. Luis Perez Sala was very important here, he´s a very serious guy.

Q: He´s a very important to you
A: He was my hero when I was young. In Estoril, when he was running in Formula 1 and I was in Formula Ford, I asked him to have his signature. It said: "For Pedro, with the hope he reaches Formula 1". That signature has been in my desk for more than 20 years. That´s a real story, and now he´s my boss!

Q: Did you close the circle
A: Not yet, remember that I´m still a defender. I´ll close it when I become a striker, and it´s still a couple of years to achieve that. I´m 41, so what?

Q: What?
A: I always joke about Fangio winning his first championship when he was 45... well, I know things have changed. But if I still have my body ready and I enjoy it... In this sports, the age is psychological, you don´t lose speed with 40, you can lose it with 50.

Q: Neither the eyesight?
A: It´s truth that I´ve lost a bit, but only a tiny bit! I know lots of drivers wearing glasses or contact lenses to drive. We know who they are (laughing), but we don´t tell names.

Q: It doesn´t seem like a minor thing.
A: It might seem incredible, but in a Formula 1 car eyesight is not so important. I´ve experimented a lot, I´ve used a lot of techniques looking for the maximum output. When you´re inside a cockpit, everyting vibrates so much that, even if your eyesight is perfect, it´s going to vibrate.

Q: It´s remarkable that there´s two guys, Schumacher and you, over 40.
A: My only secret is to always have taken care of myself. I´ve always done exercise, eaten healthy and slept a lot. Always.

Q: You won´t want me to believe that you haven´t broken any rules. When was the last time you drunk more than one glass?
A: Not too far ago (laughs), it was on 25th february as we celebrated my wife´s and my birthday. Her birthday is on 22nd, like Niki Lauda, and mine on 24th, like Alain Prost. I break the rules, of course! But my friends tell me I live like a chicken: I go to bed when the sun sets and I like to wake up the first. I´m happy living that way.

Q: You´ll drive the new HRT for the first time next Friday, in Australia, in Free Practice. Karthikeyan, your team mate, could drive it a couple of days ago
A: When he stepped down I asked him: "Are the sensations good?". He looked at me with bright eyes and told me: "It´s already better than last year". I liked it because the first impression is very important.

Q: You ask the fans to be patient
A: This team has born because of the interest in Spain and the only way for them to identify with us and respect us is to be transparent, and even then they´re going to critisize us, it´s normal, because we aren´t going to win. We don´t lie and the truth is that we´re the worst F1 team right now, but we don´t want to be there and we won´t be there in the mid term. The advantage is that Fernando Alonso is leading the way. The fans are going to support him and then they´re going to have a little bit of room for us.

Q: It might be the worst team, but the best in terms of food.
A: Yes indeed! Catering is from Arzak. Spanish quality everywhere! In HRT everything is made in Spain.

Q: You only need the coveralls to be from Zara
A: I wish! (laughing). We´re good at everything. The only difference is at opportunities, as the market is English-spoken and most of the teams are based in England. We don´t. 80% of HRT is Spanish, starting with our chief engineer, Toni Cuquerella.

Q: You must be tough with the engineers.
A: You´re right. I recognise I can be tedious to a mechanic or an engineer. The other day, when we were making the new seat, a mechanic came to me and told me; "They´ve already told me you´re bloody tedious" (laughs)

Q: In fact, you may be one of the drivers with the most technical knowledge. Did you fill up your hard drive as a McLaren and Pirelli tester?
A: I think there´s two types of driver, and no one is better than the other. Just different. There´s one who doesn´t care what´s behind his ass and even with three wheels he will accomplish 100%. I´m not like that and I would like it, but to give 100% I need to know what I´m driving, why things work. That makes me confident. Then, I can close the book, put my helmet and the test starts, I give everything.

Q: You´re as happy as a child, your wife is calmed... what about your mother? I ask you because I know she had to medicate to watch you drive.
A: I think medicines don´t keep her calmed anymore. She´s abandoned it and she wants to try enjoy it. After all these years she accepts this is my job and my passion. A few days ago we showcased the team in Barcelona. She didn´t say anything but she came and suddenly I was next to the car and she appeared there. It was great because all along my F1 career she may have come to three Grand Prix. She was very fearful.

Q: But it was because of your father
A: My father was very passionate. He used to spend the weekends fixing the car. I started at four years old with a motorbike until I tried a kart. I´ve been quite bad at the motorbike compared to my older brother or my cousins Alberto and Javier Puig. The thing is that on mondays at school, my fingers smelled of gasoline.

Q: What your daughters say of their daddy´s job?
A: There´s a sentence that is heard at home when they see me packing which is "Dad, are you going to win?". The answer is not heard because I´m not really going to win, but in the mind of a child there´s only winning or losing.

Q: Is there any other hobbies when you step out of the car?
A: My hidden passion is to understand the financial markets, the credit crunch. It all started when on airplanes they offer you the financial press. One day, reading Wall Street Journal I thought to myself "I know English, I speak it well, but I´m not understanding a word in here! Let´s catch up, you can´t only understand about cars, differencial and tyre temperature" I was hooked inmediately and every morning I download as much press as I can.

[RealRacingRoots]

Journalist Whose Name Shall Not Be Mentioned By Anyone Except HWNSNBM! (JWNSNBMBAEHWNSNBM)

I'm okay with this.

[David AGS]

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/418059_10150661980119598_284292149597_8968063_931492593_n.jpg

The F112's have arrived

So much for good old Joe Saward saying that the cars wouldn't arrive in Australia...

Thats Ricciardo!

But I do agree with your post, they have arrived.

Pics on the Australian Grand Prix Facebook page.

[AdrianSutil]

Thanks for the translated interview Aerond. Good read that.

[solarcold]

ye, thanks for translation. In my turn I translated some part of it to Russian and posted in HRT group (which actually is never gaining lots of attention.)

[Peter]

Mario, a few days ago, you said that the F112 is missing its bargeboards, and that is something that would be added to the car by now. But, the Marussia car is also missing its bargeboards, and the place where the bargeboards should be looks a tad too small for one to even be there. Could it be that the F112 and MR-01 designs do not include a bargeboard? Or is it just a common problem for both teams not able to fully assemble their cars as yet? Does the bargeboard have a significant propose, and how much of a disadvantage would a car be at if it didn't have any?

[mario]

Mario, a few days ago, you said that the F112 is missing its bargeboards, and that is something that would be added to the car by now. But, the Marussia car is also missing its bargeboards, and the place where the bargeboards should be looks a tad too small for one to even be there. Could it be that the F112 and MR-01 designs do not include a bargeboard? Or is it just a common problem for both teams not able to fully assemble their cars as yet? Does the bargeboard have a significant propose, and how much of a disadvantage would a car be at if it didn't have any?

To be strictly correct I'd like to point out that I was paraphrasing scarbsf1, as back on the 5th he posted the following Tweet:

Hispania: its hard to tell the difference from the old car! Plus there's a host of parts not yet fitted; cascades bargeboards etc

Now, in the case of the F112 the photo that cbbcisace posted suggests that there is a slot near the floor of the car where a bargeboard could be fixed, so it is more likely than not that it just wasn't fitted for the shakedown. As for Marussia, I think that they do actually have a bargeboard, but because it is a black part against black bodywork it is difficult to spot - it is clearer in this shot (you can see the saw tooth top edge of it against the bodywork in this shot).


As to the function of the bargeboard, its main function is to smooth and direct the airflow around the sidepods and across the upper surface of the floor, so it is very useful as a flow conditioner. It is possible to design a car that doesn't use a conventional bargeboard - the FW26 used enlarged turning vanes to achieve the same job whilst the BAR 006 used a very small vertical flip up in front of the sidepod to achieve the same effect, whilst the TF105 and TF106, for example, had carefully sculpted bodywork around the base of the sidepods that effectively took the place of a bargeboard.
So, in the past teams have used other methods to achieve a similar effect, even under the post 2009 rules (I think that Force India might have used a similar design to the 006 - flip ups on the leading edge of the floor - on their 2009 and 2010 cars), but it seems to be more common to use bargeboards as flow conditioners.

[David AGS]

Here we go again:

HRT have requested a scruteneering delay till Friday morning, as the team still working on car 22 chassis (de la Rosa). Pitpass says they are still waiting for some parts to arrive, but confident on parts arriving on time.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98036

Meanwhile, I had the pleasure of my programme siged by the HRT duo, also their driver cars which can be seen by clicking the link below.

http://i44.tinypic.com/qstun9.jpg

http://i42.tinypic.com/2keybm.jpg

http://i41.tinypic.com/infzwj.jpg

[jackanderton]

The HRT looks quite graceful from the side.

Wouldn't it be great to just have one race where the conditions somehow were unexpectedly all in favour of HRT's strengths? I know they have no strengths, but I'm speaking hypothetically here. The last time I remember a backmarker surprising unexpectedly was Adrian Sutil's early drives in the rain for Spyker and Force India.

One of the good things about F1 Rejects is even the worst teams can all look back at a small handful of glory moments where fates conspired to mean they were marginally more competitive. There hasn't even been one for HRT or Virgin yet. Improved reliability seems to have made such an event even more difficult to come by.

[Pointrox]

So far the only Grands Prix they have a certain advantage are in Monaco and Canada.
Mind you that thanks to Chandhok's 14th place at Monaco in 2010 and Tonio's 13th at Montreal, HRT finished ahead of Manor-Virgin-Marussia.
I'm curious which Grand Prix they will benefit from this season, and when they will put KERS in their car.

[FullMetalJack]

The HRT looks quite graceful from the side.

Wouldn't it be great to just have one race where the conditions somehow were unexpectedly all in favour of HRT's strengths? I know they have no strengths, but I'm speaking hypothetically here. The last time I remember a backmarker surprising unexpectedly was Adrian Sutil's early drives in the rain for Spyker and Force India.

One of the good things about F1 Rejects is even the worst teams can all look back at a small handful of glory moments where fates conspired to mean they were marginally more competitive. There hasn't even been one for HRT or Virgin yet. Improved reliability seems to have made such an event even more difficult to come by.

All I can think of is Glock making Q2 at Malaysia and Belgium 2010 (despite both of them being down to luck). He was quite competitive at the Singapore Grand Prix that year too, and could have nicked a point at Korea.

[Ferrim]

The HRT looks quite graceful from the side.

Wouldn't it be great to just have one race where the conditions somehow were unexpectedly all in favour of HRT's strengths? I know they have no strengths, but I'm speaking hypothetically here. The last time I remember a backmarker surprising unexpectedly was Adrian Sutil's early drives in the rain for Spyker and Force India.

Giancarlo Fisichella, 2009 Belgian Grand Prix, Pole Position.

[Aerond]

The HRT looks quite graceful from the side.

Wouldn't it be great to just have one race where the conditions somehow were unexpectedly all in favour of HRT's strengths? I know they have no strengths, but I'm speaking hypothetically here. The last time I remember a backmarker surprising unexpectedly was Adrian Sutil's early drives in the rain for Spyker and Force India.

Giancarlo Fisichella, 2009 Belgian Grand Prix, Pole Position.

I can beat that: Nico Hulkenberg, 2010 Brazilian Grand Prix, Pole Position.