HRT F112 passes FIA crash tests

F1 Fanatic round-up

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Pedro de la Rosa drives HRT's 2011 car at Jerez

In the round-up: HRT move a step closer to getting their 2012 contender on-track after passing the remaining FIA crash tests.

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HRT passes crash tests (Joe Saward)

“The HRT team has passed all finally completed all the necessary crash tests with its F112 and is now racing to try to get a chassis together in time to take part in the final tests of the winter in Barcelona next week.”

Kobayashi plays down Sauber’s pace (Autosport)

“It’s testing, it’s better than nothing and it’s better than last, for sure, but I don’t think this is a real result. I don’t believe it is, and I know more than anybody what the situation is. I don’t think McLaren and Red Bull are slow…”

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Comment of the day

Red Bull have announced the next up-and-coming talent to join their young driver development programme.

The caption competition received hundreds of excellent entries.

Among the best were those from Kate Coady, Dan Thorn, Me4me, Roald, Chris and Mads.

But my favourite – which you can see on the caption here – was suggested by Ivz. Thanks to everyone for playing and look our for another one next week.

From the forum

  • Mnmracer has written two very long posts looking at how the 2007 and 2010 championship could have worked out.

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to madbikerbob!

If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is by emailling me, using Twitter or adding to the list here.

On this day in F1

It was must rank as one of the most unusual liveries ever applied to a Formula 1 car: Honda’s ‘Earthdreams’ livery, revealed five years ago today:

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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42 comments on “HRT F112 passes FIA crash tests”

  1. Shhh, Kamui! Let us believe you’re going to be champion!

    I was thinking of the most awkward/funny podium combinations possible at about this time last year, and I remember picking Karthikeyan, Petrov and Kobayashi. Needless to say, a few weeks later, Vitaly did score a podium! But yeah, that would be such an epic podium…

    1. I cant even imagine Karthikeyan on the podium. I remember the 2005 US GP had 6 cars participating and yet Karthikeyan couldn’t make the podium. His teammate Monteiro was ecstatic though.

      I think and odd yet believeable podium would we Kobayashi, Massa and Di Resta

      1. A really surprising podium would be Barichello, Sutil and Trulli cos well three guys without drives on the podium is bound to be a bit odd. :)

        1. The more I think about the end of the 2011 Monaco Grand Prix, the angrier I get! Just imagine if the top three had have taken each other out near the end… Kobayashi would have gone to the lead with Webber behind. The only reason Webber got close enough to eventually pass Kobayashi in that race was because the red flag bunched them up… So theoretically, there was a chance of a Kobayashi victory while his team-mate watched on from hospital! :D

          1. Thats a BIG “what if”. Even If Vettel and Alonso had colided, Button was keeping his distance and was ready for anything so would have most likely avoided and taken advantage of any mishap ahead.

          2. Just imagine

  2. So late with round-up Keith, I missed my morning snacks :)

    1. The time-stamp says this was posted at one minute past midnight. Strange, then, that it should not be visible until eight hours later …

      1. I’m guessing he accidentally bumped a button to make it a private post and only realised this when he’d woken up.

        1. Tom Haxley (@)
          26th February 2012, 9:04

          Thats when he posted it (midnight), he probably published it at a more reasonable hour so his twitter and facebook feeds hit the morning rush :)

        2. That’s happened before, so you’re probably right Damon.

  3. The link to the 2007 season doesnt work :(

    1. For now (’till Keith fixes it) you can remove “2012/02/26/262-2/” from the URL when you go to the link. Or use this one.

  4. I was too late for the captioncompetition.
    But I was in awe about Japanese mums, I was already in awe when I first heard about bento boxes, but this is the next level!
    Look at the detail – especially of the front – love has many ways of showing…

    1. I was too late too. Pit I just came up with this:

      “It looked good on paper but had trouble passing the FIA crash tests.”

  5. I’ve never really had the opportunity to say hello to everyone. So…

    Hello. :)

    1. Hi. Let me point you in this direction! :P

    2. Hello Catherine!

  6. Seriously, why do HRT continue in the sport. They have no sponsors, no chance of getting any and no hope of scoring points under normal racing situations. They’re a joke! Their presence angers the other teams occassionally. All they do is burn money for no gain. I admire their perseverance, but what is the point!

    1. Why do any of the teams continue in the sport? Red Bull was the only team capable of winning anything on a regular basis, so everyone else just frittered away millions of dollars doing nothing but helplessly staring at the back of Sebastian Vettel.

      HRT evidently feel that there is still a place for them in the sport. They are under new management, have finally managed to consolidate themselves into one coherent organisation, and have employed one driver who can help develop the car quickly and one driver who can keep the money flowing in. Maybe they’re only ever going to be backmarkers, but at least they’re making an effort. No doubt people felt the same way about Minardi when they had nothing to show for themselves after three seasons, but they are still fondly remembered as The Little Team That Could. Maybe someday people will see HRT in the same way.

    2. They’ve beaten Virgin the last two years…

      Also, I love it when people get angry about a team still existing when it actually makes progress.

      1. @Prisoner Monkeys – Well that’s a pretty naive way to look at it. You make it sound like 2nd – 10th place in the constructors isn’t worth anything. Not to mention the teams at the top have the resources to compete. Sure some years you may not have the best cars but others you will. Also to say Red Bull were the only ones to have a winning car on a regular basis is again pretty narrow minded… forgot all those years for Ferarri, Lotus, McLaren, Williams and others since before 2010?

        Don’t get me wrong I’d like it if they made progress, but it just doesn’t look like it from the outside, and in the end that is what a sponsor sees until they actually enquire about a deal.

        @matt90 – There is ‘progress’ and ‘progre$$’ Any of the former by HRT has not been converted into the latter, the important form of progress when you think from a non idealistic point of view. Plus, the only reason the beat Virgin in 2011 was due to the Canadian grand prix. When push comes to shove, yes, they beat them; but it certainly wasnt due to having a solid car. They just had the luck they didn’t break down or crash before the Virgin’s. They could have completed a single lap and still beat them, on this assessment it wasn’t a ‘real’ victory over the Virgin team.

        I particularlly liked the following quote from John Boothe (I think) in 2010: “When it comes to the finishing positions of the new teams this year, it is largely down to who breaks down first.”

        1. Except that they knew going in that they wouldn’t be competing for points, and that the only way Virgin and HRT could beat one another was to finish the races that count. HRT did that. Also (and I might have missed some bad fortune that Virgin had) HRT actually beat both Virgins (and a Lotus) on the track in Canada. Neither Virgin broke down or crashed’ as far as I can see. Also, the second HRT nearly finished in front of the Virgin’s too.

    3. For the sense of achievement you get from competing at the highest level. It’s the same thing that drove Minardi for more than a decade despite being perpetually at the tail end, often being without things the other teams took for granted. For a while they were the only team without a semi-automatic gearbox for example.

      And thinking outside F1, thousands of people run marathons every year with no hope of winning. They spend hours training for little benefit.

      You might argue that sport exists for the audience, but I’m old fashioned in that I believe it exists for the thrill of competing.

      1. your marathon analogy is flawed here. in F1 terms you should be talking about the Olympic marathon. and not everyone can participate in that one. if you dont have what it takes, someone else who has a bigger chance should be there instead of you. thats how F1 should work. HRT are a joke. and people who keep on bringing up how they beat Virgin, well virgin are a joke too. The FIA selection process for 2010 was a joke as well, declining entrance to serious teams just because they didnt pick the Cosworth engine.

        The FIA chose four teams of which only Lotus* is a serious competitor. USF1 went bust before it started and the other two are just hopeless. I cant believe that these teams belong to the top of Motorsport. Their first cars were slower than GP2 cars around the same tracks. And they pretty much stayed the same for the first year (apart from making adjustments to their fuel tank)

    4. Say it with me now: Minardi.

      And actually, HRT beat Virgin the last two years. Which, considering where they were, is quite the feat, if you ask me.

    5. Is that a philosophical question about the things that drive us to compete @nick-uk?

      Otherwise, if we ignore the drive one has to go sporting and compete, I guess its simple. The team owners took on a team to secure their investments/loans made. And if they quit they would lose all of that completely. If they miss a few races the same.
      So their only option is to find a way to keep it into business with as little cash input as is needed, or indeed invest to give the team more worth (but that would require putting in more money and having a view of what will work in the mid term) and sell it on.

    6. All they do is burn money for no gain. I admire their perseverance, but what is the point!

      To race in the sport they love.

      I don’t get how HRT are meant to be a “joke”. For me, there they’re the least laughable team on the grid. They came into F1 in awful circumstances partly thanks to the FIA being so unclear about budgets before hand and partly thanks to Campos but they ploughed on plus, the new teams have to build their cars from scratch and without testing that is a stupidly huge task. I actually don’t know how anybody dare say they’re a joke with the determination they’ve shown to stay in the sport. Good on them.

    7. All teams have to start somewhere. I think it’s great to see teams like HRT giving it a go. I really can’t understand your stance. All sports people are in their particular game because they believe they can one day win. HRT are no exception. Yes, they’re a long way off but who knows in a few years time? For me, it adds massively to the F1 spectacle and I’m cheering them on. Have you seen masses of problems for the front-running teams with backmarkers getting in the way in the last couple of years? Hardly. The drivers have mostly behaved very well. So live and let live, I say.

      It’s interesting. Towards the front of the grid, I support the individual drivers, not the teams. But towards the back, I support the teams. I guess it’s because the driver’s haven’t got a hope in hell of getting a good result until the teams move forward.

      It’s a very individual thing, what grabs your fancy (appalling English, I know). For instance, I really follow HRT but I don’t give a damn about Marussia. They just don’t seem to have a sparkle to me. But thousands of others will disagree, I am sure! (When Richard Branston Pickle was involved, I was much more interested in them (Virgin) because I think he’s a legend).

      ‘Nuff said. Peace to all!

    8. It’s called the underdog spirit. This is sport and that implies passion and belief. I don’t care if they ever win a race but I do care if they stop trying to @nick-uk

      1. I appriciate and very much understand everyones opinions on this. I guess I’m just too business minded.

        The underdog/will to compete argument only stretches so far in my opinion. If an individual wants to compete at something they should ensure they have the ability to reasonably do so. Caterhams I feel are a much better example of this trail of thought, they are a team who have made very real progress in every aspect and who in my opinion can go on to do well in the future. HRT just don’t come across is capable of progressing. They don’t have the financial base or infrastructure to give themselves a chance at moving forward. By all means try, but when it comes to the most technically advanced and expensive sport in the world, you can’t just come in on a whim and think you’ll develop over time if you don’t have the required ‘base’ of resources.

        1. I think Nick.UK has failed to understand the true essence of motor racing, to be fair, sports in general. Why do teams compete in general? Its about the sporting spirit. M

          I respect HRT because they keep ploughing through on pure passion, which is really great to watch. They are a team with the least amount of backing, Caterham have deep pockets, Marussia’s coughers are relatively healthy as well.

          To have been able to show up on the grid with a car a few years ago was a great enough success for me. We can safely say that they are making progress, and I think they will put up more of a fight this year. The choice of drivers are questionable, but hey they need to start somewhere.

    9. Where exactly do you expect brand new teams to start? Especially in this age of Formula One with lack of testing and budget constraints.
      Considering they’ve beaten Virgin?

    10. Somebody has to win and somebody has to lose. There’s no way around it

  7. Oh fantastic! Thanks @Keith Collantine :) What is freaky is that @necrodethmortem and I somehow managed to post pretty much the same thing, at exactly the same time!

  8. Virtually all the none works teams started small.
    Ask Williams how he struggled even back when it was much cheaper to run an F1 team.
    In the past it was much easier to borrow against future earnings. Things are much more tougher now.

    For the small teams, it costs more to run their operation than what they receive from the TV fund. You can’t attract sponsors if you don’t have a performing car or have become an established brand. Ask Williams, it doesn’t always work.

    If only HRT had a product they could market.
    Perhaps we need a HRT energy drink.

    1. The two other newcomers from 2010 now both have constructor backing in Caterham and Marussia (far from the biggest manufacturers on the planet, I know). HRT don’t have such a luxury and while it would undoubtedly help them, I’m interested to see just how well they perform truly on their own.

    1. There’s not enough swearing in Formula 1, @plutoniumhunter :D

      1. I like that in an interview he speaks like a normal person.

      2. @AndrewTanner Yep, even drivers are not so finger-happy nowadays :D

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