HRT to miss Jerez test and go to Monza

2011 F1 testing

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Narain Karthikeyan, HRT, Valencia, 2011

HRT will not participate in this week’s test at Jerez.

The team will instead participate in a Pirelli filming day in Monza.

A statement issued by the team said:

“Hispania Racing will be in action in Monza from the 14th to 16th of February, and will travel to Barcelona for the final European testing-session straight after the filming-exercise is completed, in order to be ready for testing in Barcelona on the 18th of February.”

The team revealed its 2011 F1 car, the F111, earlier today, but they will use the F110 at Monza. The F111 will run for the first time in the Bahrain test in March.

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    34 comments on “HRT to miss Jerez test and go to Monza”

    1. It seems odd to pass up a testing day for a filming day, but oh well.

      1. Money money money…

      2. The filming day could have been planned in a gap between test to not lose time, or done at Jerez or Valencia to compare performances and lap times.

    2. Can’t help feeling they are putting out a huge front…

      I wouldn’t be surprised if they actually don’t make the first race.

      1. That is SOOO last year.

      2. And the release of 3D renderings instead of actual photos makes just a little more sense now. I kinda thought the whole point of a car launch was to have a car to launch.

        Who here wants to put real live money on HRT having in their possesion right now, a real live car.
        Not without decent odds I guess.

        USF1 had 3D renders.

    3. Maybe it is just to far for them to travel. They have the worst record last year of payments, always late. I don’t blame them so much as I do Bernie. I was talking to a close friend who knows the man who brought the F1 to Singapore and they only made money their first year. If anything will kill F1, it is Bernie’s greed and his greedy little daughters.

      1. To be fair to them, I hardly think Bernie’s daughters have much influence in his negotiations relating to F1.

        They may well be greedy – I don’t know them to say – but I’m sure Bernie’s determination to make as much money out of everyone involved in the sport existed before his daughters did.

        1. Bernie doesn’t make anyone sign the deals. It’s up to them whether they accept what’s on offer. Also, Bernie didn’t choose the new teams or really cause the confusion over whether there would be a budget cap so whatever state HRT are in it isn’t his fault. I do recall though Eddie Jordan saying how he owed Bernie lots as he used to help his team survive so maybe he’s actually a blessing for a team like HRT :P

      2. Not much different, going to Jerez or to Italy from their German base.

    4. Surely this must be a clever ploy, for the F111 is way too advanced to be seen so soon by the rivals. We wouldn’t want Red Bull, Ferrari etc. copying the car which will win the championship, would we?

      Craftily played, Kolles, craftily played indeed.

        1. and then there was brawn.

          1. and then there was brawn the last car Honda ever made.

            Seriously, can we stop this already? For all we know, the Hondas that had gone before, were all equally fast in the first race and it was in fact the execution of the race weekends that did them in. And yes, Brawn executed that part really, really well given his distinct lack of anything resembling a traditional F1 budget. But he was given the bloody car by Honda. Stop making out like he drew a doddle on a paper napkin in a restaurant one night and it came out a championship winning car.

            1. Execution of th? Don’t be daft, the brawn car was a masterpiece, miles ahead of the previous Honda built cars, And having said that. Are you saying the HRT111 was done on a napkin?

          2. I think the Brawn success was a mixture of things. For one, Ferrari and McLaren were involved in quite a battle during 2008, and so were devoting their resources to the 2008 car. Honda shelved development of their 2008 car mid way though the season to focus on the 2009, and so had six months extra time.

            Brawn also had the double diffuser before most of the big teams copied it. Where Renault, McLaren and Ferrari were spending 20 million on their KERS, Brawn focused on an alternative interpretation of the technical regulations. But they could only do this because of the massive changes to the regulations which took place between the 08/09 seasons. Such a change doesn’t exist this season, so there is less scope to invest in redically different concepts.

            I think it was only the huge rules changes, coupled with the extra development time which gave the Brawn such an advantage in its aero package. WIthout a massive overhaul of the regs, there is little chance anyone will be making massive gains this season.

            Mercedes has a six month head start in 2011 at least, as they stopped developing their car mid way though last year. We’ll have to see how much momentum they can gain.

      1. Maybe he has designed something so amazing, it will blow the entire racing world away, the little terror.

        Or maybe its as bad of a dog as last years car, he just likes speculation, crafty play.

    5. Seems pretty clear to me that the team is in survival mode again. Testing costs money (but gains performance), while publicity shoots like this actually make money (for no gain in performance). Any F1 team which is more concerned with making money, than making a faster car, will quickly fall right off the grid.

      1. Maybe they are looking to the get ‘This could be you’ and ‘Your logo’ spaces filled by some sponsors

    6. I don’t think Pirelli would give them much money…they have TF109. It’s still strange.

    7. It does seem odd though, I mean they have released pictures of the car, but in computer imagery. Why do that and then use the old car (again) for a filming day at monza? Lotus might have done a filming day, but it was in this years car.

      Il be amazed if they are at Barca test in anything other then the F110. Something seems bit dodgy here.

      1. I get the idea something is going on here.

        Might it be the teams have some issues with the tyres and want someone to test a car with more appropriate DF levels to run them?

        Pedro DLR stated (in the flying whatever with P. Windsor, really worth a look), that it really is a problem to simulate the DF levels of current cars on the 2009 Toyota.

        If you would let anyone test on a current day car to decide on the actual compounds to use for different tracks who would you choose?
        Exactly, HRT a team so far behind, they will hardly be faster than anyone soon, even with that extra experience.

        1. A very interesting point of view.

      2. I gotta agree SJM, anyone with the computer skills could knock up a convincing render like HRT have. They’ve so far built all of zero cars (since they outsourced last year’s) and I’m not at all sure they’ve ever shown evidence of a capacity to do so, what with not even being able to make components for last year’s car!
        I’d love for them to turn out to be putting the finishing touches on a competitive motor but HRT has had the feeling of being on borrowed time for about a year now…

        1. and how long can you borrow time for? Maybe it’s leased, and that would be different.

      3. Of course is the F110 that will be at Barca. How much times to they have to tell it you people? The new car will run at the last test in Bahrain. Is that so hard to understand?
        They have said so weeks ago.

        As for skipping the test. Well, considering they won’t have the new car ready until March and they will be running with last years car, is not like they lose much by skipping a test and getting some money from Pirelli.
        Two test with the old car are more than enough.

    8. Still I can’t understand their strategy when the new car is ready then why would you kill time by just testing the old car for no reason.

      1. This is what I call FISH NUTS

      2. Obviously they haven’t built it yet. We only saw computer rendering

      3. The new car was built but latest crash tests are scheduled for this week (from Autosport in the article about the posted pictures).

    9. HRT: We’ve completed the renderting for F1 2011!
      Codemasters: Fantastic! How’s the real car coming along?
      HRT has signed off

    10. Wasi,

      The car you’ve seen pictures of is about 2 feet long and 1 foot wide. Its not a real car, just a model based on last years car.

    11. Were they going to Jerez anyway – No. We knew that weeks ago and they were going straight to Bahrain.

      This way they probably get a bit of cash, gives the drivers a chance to give the car a shake-down and it will be an Hispania that are in Pirelli promotional videos which will generate some much-needed publicity.

      Well played Colin Kolles!

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