Yamamoto’s blunders (HRT race review)
Sakon Yamamoto’s second appearance for HRT – this time in place of Karun Chandhok – did not go very well.
| Sakon Yamamoto | Bruno Senna | |
| Qualifying position | 22 | 20 |
| Qualifying time comparison (Q1) | 1’19.844 (+1.252) | 1’18.592 |
| Race position | 19 | |
| Average race lap | 1’26.680 (+2.7) | 1’23.980 |
| Laps | 19/67 | 63/67 |
| Pit stops | 1 | 2 |
Sakon Yamamoto
Blamed a gearshift problem for his lap which saw him qualify 1.2 seconds slower than his team mate.
According to Lucas di Grassi on Virgin’s Twitter account, Yamamoto’s slow start was because he had his pit lane speed limiter on. Di Grassi started behind the HRT and would have been able to see the flashing red light at the rear of his car.
Yamamoto lapped around half a second off Senna’s pace and mysteriously stopped on lap 19. Anthony Davidson later claimed on Twitter that Yamamoto had been trying to adjust his brake bias but accidentally pulled the fire switch instead, turning his engine off.
HRT have not responded to enquiries to verify either of these stories. Here’s what their press release said about Yamamoto’s race:
Sakon Yamamoto stopped in lap 19 on the straight after the car suddenly stopped. The reason for this we have to investigate in order to understand what exactly happened. I have to thank the team for their work the whole weekend and for their very good pit stops today.
Colin Kolles
Update: HRT have got in touch to say “Sakon had to stop the race because of an electrical fault.”
Compare Sakon Yamamoto’s form against his team mate in 2010
Bruno Senna
Was able to keep up with Timo Glock to begin with, though the Virgin driver was using the hard compound tyres.
But Senna picked up a slow puncture on lap 22 and fell out of touch with the other new teams’ drivers.
Compare Bruno Senna’s form against his team mate in 2010
2010 German Grand Prix
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David Smith said on 28th July 2010, 19:19
I must say I was getting quite a fan of karun Chandhok and HRT for trying their damn hardest. I was even going to buy the 1/43 model HRT car of his at £49.99 and was even going to see about getting a HRT fan club going but with all this nonsense going about I dont think i’ll bother!! HRT are doing themselves no favours and now Bernie is saying he doesnt think a couple of new comers will finish the season or be missed if they went the way of super aguri!