HRT: Ricciardo makes progress in second race

2011 German GP team review

July 25, 2011 at 8:45 am by Keith Collantine

The HRT trucks arrived with subtle changes in the team’s logo visible: ‘Hispania Racing’ swapped for ‘HRT’.

Both drivers put up a fight against the Virgin cars but a technical failure robbed Vitantonio Liuzzi of a finish.

Daniel Ricciardo showed improved pace at the Nurburgring, leading Jerome D’Ambrosio for a chunk of the race.

	Daniel Ricciardo	Vitantonio Liuzzi
Qualifying position	22	23
Qualifying time comparison (Q1)	1’37.036 (+0.025)	1’37.011
Race position	19
Laps	57/60	37/60
Pit stops	2	1

HRT drivers’ lap times throughout the race (in seconds):

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/charts/2011drivercolours.csv

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50	51	52	53	54	55	56	57	58	59	60
Daniel Ricciardo	115.155	105.821	103.016	102.824	102.573	102.534	102.344	102.603	103.192	102.931	102.728	102.652	102.059	102.361	102.152	102.494	102.144	102.227	102.341	102.734	104.896	120.724	101.453	104.247	101.153	102.683	102.637	101.236	100.998	100.625	103.635	100.892	103.443	101.605	102.454	102.469	101.064	100.805	103.051	102.586	104.837	102.452	101.202	109.908	102.79	104.3	102.54	102.038	105.766	128.902	101.621	102.164	103.233	102.902	102.836	100.663	100.489
Vitantonio Liuzzi	114.147	103.969	103.021	103.502	102.415	102.361	102.084	102.145	102.738	102.656	102.763	102.338	102.884	102.588	102.269	102.405	103.348	102.427	102.412	104.434	121.014	100.85	100.902	100.755	100.718	102.089	101.004	100.683	101.653	102.265	100.739	100.806	100.991	101.051	102.7	101.395	108.559

Daniel Ricciardo, HRT, Nurburgring, 2011

Daniel Ricciardo

Ricciardo showed encouraging signs of progress in qualifying, lapping just 0.025s slower than his team mate.

His race pace also looked stronger than it did at Silverstone – when Liuzzi retired Ricciardo was 16 seconds behind (he was 88 seconds behind at the flag at Silverstone).

Though unseen by the cameras, Ricciardo overtook Jerome d’Ambrosio on lap 12 as the pair were passed by Sergio Perez.

Despite his best lap being seven-tenths of a second slower than D’Ambrosio’s, Ricciardo kept the Virgin behind through their first pit stops until lap 40, when D’Ambrosio claimed the place back.

Ricciardo finished 19th, ahead of Karun Chandhok, but said afterwards he aimed to do better: “If I can make the same step from Silverstone for Hungary then it’s going to look more promising.”

Daniel Ricciardo 2011 form guide

Vitantonio Liuzzi

Liuzzi was given a penalty for a gearbox change after qualifying.

He started the race well and was only a couple of seconds behind Timo Glock when his car failed: “A few laps into the race we started to suffer some problems with the brake balance and we lost quite a bit of pace.

“After the pit stop, with the tyre change, we recovered our strong pace until an unfortunate electronic issue forced us to retire.”

Vitantonio Liuzzi 2011 form guide

Narain Karthikeyan

Drove Liuzzi’s car in first practice.

2011 German Grand Prix

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16 comments on HRT: Ricciardo makes progress in second race

Marco said on 25th July 2011, 9:03

Not to forget Liuzzi was over 2 tenths slower in qualifying compared to 3rd free practice, which is not mentioned here… So he didn t extract the maximum out of the car, probably because the gearbox change, which demoted him 5 places down the grid… I think it will be more difficult for Ricciardo at Hungaroring, as it is a different track, demanding, and it will really test his physical condition and the tyre managing abilities… I expect the temperatures will be at least 25 degrees (air) and over 30 degrees (asphalt), so a real difference compared to Nurbrugring…

- Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 25th July 2011, 9:25
  
  If it did cause Liuzzi a problem, he didn’t see fit to mention it.
  
  - Marco said on 25th July 2011, 10:14
    
    But the time was definitely slower: ;)
    
    1:36,804 (FP3)
    1:37,011 (quali)
    
    - Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 25th July 2011, 10:20
      
      I’m not disputing that.
      
Lord Ha Ha said on 25th July 2011, 10:13

Daniel did fine, good progress. The other drivers rate Liuzzi so its as tough test.

BasCB (@bascb) said on 25th July 2011, 10:21

I think HRT are starting to look like a race team. Having HRT on the sidepods, makes me hope they found the “You” being searched for before :-)

Liuzzi is driving solidly, and Ricciardo is showing the appropriate good promise you would want in a rookie.

- AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner) said on 27th July 2011, 22:17
  
  They have made so much progress. A great little team. I kinda missed the “This could be you” livery put hopefully it’s absence points towards something good!
  
Funkyf1 (@funkyf1) said on 25th July 2011, 11:07

Good progress, I reckon he should get a shot at Trulli’s seat

smifaye (@smifaye) said on 25th July 2011, 12:02

Well done Daniel

Fixy (@fixy) said on 25th July 2011, 17:38

Keith, the picture is of Tonio not Daniel ;)

- Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 25th July 2011, 17:49
  
  Changed it, thanks.
  
wasiF1 (@wasif1) said on 26th July 2011, 2:06

Ricciardo kept all the promise that he need to keep.

FormulaVee#7 (@john-cousins) said on 26th July 2011, 8:36

Well done Daniel! All he needs is time in the seat and he’ll get quicker and quicker. I wonder how the HRT compares to his Renault World Series car?

daykind said on 26th July 2011, 16:31

Much better from Ricciardo. If he keeps improving, thern surely a race seat permanently beckons for 2012.

bosyber said on 26th July 2011, 19:21

Good work for this team. Still something to go on reliability, but the pace is getting there and both drivers are doing a solid job. Nice to see them growing into a real bona-fide team.

AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner) said on 27th July 2011, 22:18

Another solid effort from Ricciardo. Consistency and just to be able to finish respectfully behind your team mate is under-rated.