Grand Prix Rejects

Good qualifying from Pedro today, that new floor seems to have given them abit of a boost.

Just noted that there is a Tetley sponsor on the rear wing for this weekend...

As a yorkshireman and HRT fan, this is truly brilliant.

Given the situation its impressive that theyre not a lot further behind than they currently are. The pace over one lap is decent and can more or less match Marussia but in races the tire wear is much worse, so even when they manage to outqualify Marussia they end up well behind come the chequered fl...

I dont seem to remember Karthikeyan being quite this awful last season... HRT need to ditch him now the car is starting to pick up the pace to challenge the Marussias. However it doesn't seem like they've got that major sponsorship deal that was rumoured, or much chance of picking any more up. Could...

Glock also retired due to his brakes being about to give up.
Lets throw Virgin out too...

They are definately true, people knew because they were on the wall in one of the pictures with Jean Todt at the new factory.

Apparently there is another major sponsor rumoured to be anounced just before Barcelona, a drinks company of some kind (probably Spanish beer of some description)...

Also interesting that the F112 has no Engine Cover/FW/Floor on show, are those the new aero upgrades for Barcelona? Hopefully so, upgrades or not they do atleast seem to have put giant numbers on the side of them... http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=393563837355603&set=a.393563184022335.96...

Pretty damning piece about Joe Saward etc.

http://www.enduringamerica.com/home/2012/4/25/bahrain-special-how-regime-supporters-became-the-silent-majo.html

The EA guys know their stuff too, an interesting read if anyone is interested.

Cheers

HRT missing mugello test, apparently the new upgrades won't be ready until Barcelona anyway and they want to concentrate on moving factory. Rather beggining to doubt they'll end up running KERS this year... On a brighter note, possibly more sponsorship coming from Narain... http://articles.economict...

I reckon Massa, having got back on form and running pretty high up, only to be caught out by the HRT's razor sharp front wing..

Finger vs Cucumber...

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/276570/karthikeyan-hits-back-at-vettel-remarks/

I imagine they would be pushing for Caterham to be disqualified from all race results, with the individual race results amended. I think this would mean that Virgin score a couple of 12th place finishes and would come ahead of HRT in the standings. However there's no real precedent for this, when Mc...

I really hope this isn't just speculation.

If so the new management really must be doing its job well, even some of the more established teams don't currently have a title sponsor...

Cheers

Seems to be some vague rumours that HRT have secured quite a large Spanish sponsorship deal to be announced relatively soon. Struggling to find out whether it is just rumour though.

Anyone know the details?

If Caterham are deemed to have done something illegal and are penalized and stripped of the last two years results and money...

...would that mean that HRT have now finished in 10th the last two years and would accordingly get all the prize money that comes with it?

Valrys wrote:They'll surely qualify with pace like this. Fingers crossed!

Aye, almost a couple of seconds within 107% in FP2.
Still, about a second or more off Virgin, going to be a lonely race if the cars manage the whole distance...

Well considering they now have the parts to make the DRS work, and the powersteering should be fixed, you would hope they'd manage to make 107% If not they really do seem to have gone backwards from last year, although I suppose in 2011 they had an extra two weeks with Bahrain being cancelled... Any...

Hydraulics on both cars apparently. De la Rosa sounding mighty peeved over the radio saying that the power steering wasn't working on the one lap he managed to do. Although to be fair that is the first time his car has been fired up. They really are looking poor at the moment though. If Virgin are a...

FP1 and 2 did not look good.

Who reckons they'll qualify? From todays running I'm going with no. And even if they do the cars won't last the race.
Worryingly it seems Marussia have a fair bit of pace already...

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...

I seem to remember them saying to some effect last year that rear grip was the primary thing holding them back, and no matter what they did with the front wing etc the Dallara design wouldn't get any better because of it. From that picture like they have some sort of attachment over the sidepods, wi...

Looks very good, could be the nicest livery, looking pretty bare though, was expecting them to have done abit more with the sponsors/partners. Anyone think it looks a little too similar to the old Dallara to be completely new though? The front wing is the one from last year as far as I can tell too....

Rumour has it that a HRT mechanic has been seen running down the pitlane, asking GP2 teams (currently testing there I think) to borrow bolts. Every rumour like this just makes me want to support them even more... Still, its getting quite late, I'm guessing the car isn't quite as complete as some pe...

The deal with Base was for 3 years I believe. Perhaps the logos will only appear on the car at the Indian GP again, as I don't think Base or Hero have much, if any, presence in the market outside of India. With Virgin announcing 3 new sponsors hopefully HRT will have a few smaller ones lined up too,...

More good news, however small it may be.

Do they still have a link up with Base Batteries and Hero Motors? Or did Karthikeyan just bring TATA this time round?

Cheers

Behold the motorhome...

http://www.f1today.net/en/photos

Just me or does the new wreath logo look very similar to the Fred Perry one?

Some twitter reports of HRT trucks arriving at Barcelona today.

Bad luck for Marussia, but hey, maybe they'll get lucky at Canada this year and jump HRT in the standings...

Accordingly they are all passed now. Got a source for it? If so excellent, looking forward to seeing the car and whatever new livery they're going for. Wonder if they got Daniel Simon to do another design... *Edit* Nay mind its just come up on Autosport. Apparently they might only get two days runn...

To be honest I quite enjoy their shambolic approach to the whole thing. Makes them more loveable when they finally manage to drag a car to the finish in front of Marussia. Who appear to have been equally disorganised this year. I think if neither of them are at Caterhams level by this time last year...

http://hrtf1team.com/en/

New headquarters as well as a new website, and apparently a car that's passed the crash tests.

Getting their act together!?