Grand Prix Rejects

dinizintheoven wrote:

Peter wrote:Well, I'm disappointed that our favouite backmarker failed to make the cut, but like everyone has said so far, running an untested, unsetup car, with little to no mileage, with half of the parts off the old car, you would be a god if you qualified. I don't think they even have the moveable rear wing on, do they?

The curved slot on the rear wing endplates implies that something there is designed to move, and the curved rods that move it are there... but there was so little TV time on the Hispanias during practice and Q1 that I never saw anything actually move.

I saw one going down the straight I believe, and checked for wing movement and saw none. We'll have to wait and see.

I'm starting to think the BBC hate HRT. Barely any coverage, and even Brundle cursed them.

dinizintheoven wrote:

Peter wrote:Well, I'm disappointed that our favouite backmarker failed to make the cut, but like everyone has said so far, running an untested, unsetup car, with little to no mileage, with half of the parts off the old car, you would be a god if you qualified. I don't think they even have the moveable rear wing on, do they?

The curved slot on the rear wing endplates implies that something there is designed to move, and the curved rods that move it are there... but there was so little TV time on the Hispanias during practice and Q1 that I never saw anything actually move.

Some pics from their Facebook page make me think they have it, but that thought only lasts for a couple of seconds.


Doesn't look too effective to me.

Liuzzi´s thoughts on the whole weekend:

http://en.espnf1.com/hrtf1/motorsport/story/44603.html

Aerond wrote:Liuzzi´s thoughts on the whole weekend:

http://en.espnf1.com/hrtf1/motorsport/story/44603.html

His first two words are "For Sure" !!!!!

Brundle is right of saying "Liuzzi shouldnt of signed for HRT". He could of done something else because the only thing HRT will do is fail to qualify. I just can't seem them updating the car, look at 2010 no updates apart from changing the mirrors due to regulation changes. 2011 and the front wing has failed a crash test. Hopefully they can move up the field, but with no major backing and not alot of engineering done over the winter (expect a few bits and bobs) they will be a F1Reject team (which is good of course )

Jeroen Krautmeir wrote:Let me take you down, cuz' I'm going to, HRT, nothing is real...

First he needs to close the 1.3 seconds gap to Liuzzi. Then he can wait that Liuzzi closes the 2 sec gap to the 107% threshold for them to qualify. But is like they say, hope is the last thing to die...

DanielPT wrote:

Jeroen Krautmeir wrote:Let me take you down, cuz' I'm going to, HRT, nothing is real...

First he needs to close the 1.3 seconds gap to Liuzzi. Then he can wait that Liuzzi closes the 2 sec gap to the 107% threshold for them to qualify.

Then try and finish the race without having reliability issues. Not so easy when you haven't tested a car.

so heres the latest spluttering from Carabante (not Kolles, gosh) that by May, they will be ahead of Virgin (plausible) and Lotus (tripe).
http://j.mp/fluJa8

One thing i do agree with (in part) is that there hasn't been much criticism of Virgin in the UK press, although only on the grounds that they haven't actually been mentioned at all

Well, I for one hope what Carabantes says is true. I mean, I don't really think they'll beat Virgin and Lotus, though Virgin is possible IMO. What I hope is true is the whole 'new aerodynamic package' for Spain. I want to see them do as good as possible!

Jeroen Krautmeir wrote:Well, I for one hope what Carabantes says is true.

A glimpse of hope from Allen's blog:

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2011/03/w ... formula-1/

I spoke to Hispania’s Geoff Willis on Sunday morning at length.

(...)

Clearly he finds himself now in less than ideal circumstances and is putting a brave face on it, but listening to him talk, you realise that he believes in what he’s doing and that he’s looking forward to shocking a few in the paddock who think Hispania shouldn’t be there.

The construction of the car was outsourced to Italian composites firms which Willis has confidence in. However the front wing failed a crash test and so the car ran in Melbourne with last year’s front wing, which the aero package was not designed for. All being well the revised wing will pass its test in the coming days and Hispania will be able to do some set up work in the four hours of practice in Sepang.

And when it does Willis believes that it will push Virgin to the back of the grid.

I think it'll be very difficult for them to push Virgin back to the end of the grid, but they have no chance in hell of beating Lotus. And they wouldn't have been able to beat Lotus last year. Publicocrapometer much?

Jeroen Krautmeir wrote:Well, I for one hope what Carabantes says is true. I mean, I don't really think they'll beat Virgin and Lotus, though Virgin is possible IMO. What I hope is true is the whole 'new aerodynamic package' for Spain. I want to see them do as good as possible!

I second that. Virgin is not that far ahead and that car is not performance tested or anything else tested really. At least I hope that we have a good action this year with two teams squabbling at the back!

Phoenix wrote:I think it'll be very difficult for them to push Virgin back to the end of the grid, but they have no chance in hell of beating Lotus. And they wouldn't have been able to beat Lotus last year. Publicocrapometer much?

HRT might not beat Lotus on pace yet, but they could on reliability, as they did in 2010. If anything the new car is more reliable, now that xtrac is gone. Lotus still has some reliability trouble though.

From set up alone they can beat Virgin on pace. Plus the upgrades that are passing crash tests, will claw a second or two at least. Lotus isn't out of the question.

Sometimes I wonder what HRT could do on more than their rumored budget of 20 million. They could probably beat Torro Rosso on 50 million

Peter wrote:

Phoenix wrote:I think it'll be very difficult for them to push Virgin back to the end of the grid, but they have no chance in hell of beating Lotus. And they wouldn't have been able to beat Lotus last year. Publicocrapometer much?

HRT might not beat Lotus on pace yet, but they could on reliability, as they did in 2010. If anything the new car is more reliable, now that xtrac is gone. Lotus still has some reliability trouble though.

From set up alone they can beat Virgin on pace. Plus the upgrades that are passing crash tests, will claw a second or two at least. Lotus isn't out of the question.

Sometimes I wonder what HRT could do on more than their rumored budget of 20 million. They could probably beat Torro Rosso on 50 million

I'm dubious that their budget really is that low - Carabantes has been on record to say that their budget this year is €45 million (although where the hell that money is coming from is still not being explained). Carabantes has even suggested that HRT might have a bigger budget than Virgin Racing, thanks to the fact that they are getting more money from FOM, which, if true, is surprising.

As to whether they can beat Virgin Racing or Lotus, that is another, thornier issue. It's true that the T128 has been brittle in testing - the cooling system seems to be a particularly weak point - and the MVR-02 has had a few problems too (although it seems that Xtrac have made some improvements over the off season).
In theory, the F111 is built from fairly well proven parts - Cosworth engine, which has been pretty solid in terms of reliability at least, a Williams gearbox and hydraulics system etc. - but, on the other hand, HRT haven't proven that all of those system will work as expected over the course of a complete race distance (plus the additional mileage clocked up during practise and qualifying, which is substantial in itself).

I expect that even if they do manage to qualify in Malaysia, there is still a fairly high possibility that one or both cars could retire with mechanical problems because of a lack of pre-season stress testing. We saw how Ferrari didn't have their problems with the pneumatic system of their cars until partway through the 2010 season, since it was a problem that hadn't been experienced during bench testing or pre-season testing, when the cars were mostly running in short to medium length stints.

As for the influence of set up work, it cannot be denied that HRT could potentially make very big gains there in Malaysia - but, then again, so could all of the backmarkers. Lotus, for example, were suffering from a lot of set up problems - Trulli suggested that Pirelli had either modified the tyres for Melbourne or given Lotus a duff set of tyres, since the tyres were behaving very differently compared to the pre-season data they had - and Virgin Racing were not entirely happy with their car set up either. They could yet find a few tenths, or more, in their cars, so HRT could well reduce the gap but might not necessarily be able to completely close up for a few more races, when they've finally built up enough set up data to really fine tune the cars.

The biggest problem, though, is that the most unpredictable races, when you can finish abnormally high, tend to occur at the start of the season, when HRT might be most vulnerable to a DNQ or DNF. Virgin Racing, for example, have bagged a 14th place finish in Melbourne (after the Saubers were DSQ'd), with Trulli getting 13th place. Even if HRT do improve, without a freak result they are likely to struggle to get a 12th place on pure pace alone - so they could well find themselves being faster than their rivals at a time when they can't take advantage of it.

Not sure where they get their optimism from but this is their latest spiel: -

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/90447

I love how they say 'quickly forgotten' in the article, no one quickly forgets a team double DQ, no matter who it is!

sswishbone wrote:Not sure where they get their optimism from but this is their latest spiel: -

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/90447

I love how they say 'quickly forgotten' in the article, no one quickly forgets a team double DQ, no matter who it is!

They may have a point in there. Obviously we will never forget this, but they should after not being that far. They should move on, move into the race . A few miles without problems in Friday practice should do the trick.

From the same article:

Tonio Liuzzi wrote:"I'm sure things will be a lot different from Australia because we are better prepared and conscious of what we need to do."

Read: Which part goes where.

Well some potential movement as their front wing appears to have passed crashed testing, Liuzzi claims it could be worth 7/10th's of a second with Mclaren's upturn it might have some credibility though I doubt it

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/90476

Brackley wind tunnel deal ...

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2011/04/ ... nnel-deal/

^ If true that could certainly put virgin under some pressure if the team survive long enough to use it, I may have to eat my words

JGomezHRT wrote:Brackley wind tunnel deal ...

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2011/04/ ... nnel-deal/

I'ld run if I were you.

Wizzie wrote:

JGomezHRT wrote:Brackley wind tunnel deal ...

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2011/04/ ... nnel-deal/

I'ld run if I were you.

Why? Surely even the Captain can't complain about this article, since all it says is "HRT have done a deal with Mercedes to use their wind tunnel, since the Resource Restriction Agreement means that Mercedes can't use it", along with the news (reported elsewhere) that HRT are bringing their new front wing and nose cone assembly to China.
It's interesting that, whilst the popular opinion of the team seems to be relatively low, there are those within the paddock that do seem to not only sympathise with them but believe them to be viable commercial partners. First we've had the deal between HRT and Williams, and now Mercedes, both organisations which are unlikely to deal with HRT out of sympathy - although they are likely to offer their services at a price.

... and the new front wing via CK

http://adamcooperf1.com/2011/04/07/koll ... -malaysia/

mario wrote:It's interesting that, whilst the popular opinion of the team seems to be relatively low, there are those within the paddock that do seem to not only sympathise with them but believe them to be viable commercial partners. First we've had the deal between HRT and Williams, and now Mercedes, both organisations which are unlikely to deal with HRT out of sympathy - although they are likely to offer their services at a price.

Hasn't Geoff Willis worked for both teams in the past? (Albeit Mercedes were of course BAR when he was there). Perhaps he still has a few connections which enabled him to get a good deal for HRT?

Might this http://www.engrish.com/2011/03/insert-engrish-here/ have inspired the logos on the HRT car?

What I want to know is how are they paying to their suppliers. Karthikayan's money wont last forever and is surely not enough... Given their usual antics, they still show a distinct lack of funds.

Im worried that they won't finish off the season with their performace, and at the malysia gp practice again very slow.

No one remember the foremer telefonica boss joining in with HRT on the off season? And rumors of other investors? Maybe all that, combined with Narains money, and some Geoff Willis links at Mercedes, is why they've gotten this deal?

Moving on, I'm impressed with HRTs pace in practice, they're running with Lotus and Virgin for a first. And I think they're within 107%. Hopefully they make Sunday.

mario

slightly diff ebd?

Hello s951

In spanish broadcast said the old system (Melbourne) has an over warming in the RDS actuator and rear zone, is for that i upload the pictures to f1technical.

hey mate good to see you on here to

you part of the team or a fan like us?

simply a fan, in fact a fool fan

good good any news you can bring will be great

Watching Liuzzi pounding around in his HRT... It looks horrible, Anthony davidson is commenting it is sliding all over the place

Who cares, its still a barely set up car, and besides, THEY QUALIFIED!!!!!!!!:D

Liuzzi within 107,04% of Q3 pole time. Given that the track has more grip in Q3 than Q1, he's properly qualified.

Please, watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5BlX6wYMzg

I absolutely LOLed with some of the comments

Im suprised how fast both were, HRT have a good car (maybe not reliable). Liuzzi was only a few tents slower then the virgins.

GroupLotusRenault wrote:Im suprised how fast both were, HRT have a good car (maybe not reliable). Liuzzi was only a few tents slower then the virgins.

Well I don't want to sound like a little fanboy, but he's about half a second off D'Ambrosio who's in only his second qualifying session, and even he was more than a second off of Glock which I suppose you could argue is about where the Virgin is in terms of performance right now. Kind of stuck out in the middle between Lotus and HRT!

AndreaModa wrote:

GroupLotusRenault wrote:Im suprised how fast both were, HRT have a good car (maybe not reliable). Liuzzi was only a few tents slower then the virgins.

Well I don't want to sound like a little fanboy, but he's about half a second off D'Ambrosio who's in only his second qualifying session, and even he was more than a second off of Glock which I suppose you could argue is about where the Virgin is in terms of performance right now. Kind of stuck out in the middle between Lotus and HRT!

The issue also for HRT is falling pieces of their car coming off again and their reliablity is poor. Yes making to the race is one thing, finishing is the other.