F1 teams have confirmed their driver line-up for the test at Barcelona.
Each team is running for four days with the test being run over a total of five days.
Lotus will run Davide Valsecchi and Luiz Razia on the morning of the first day of the test.
And Jerome d’Ambrosio is currently set to do all four days of the test for Virgin as Timo Glock recovers from surgery.
Nico Hulkenberg will drive for Force India again during the test.
The team may run Glock later in the test if he is fit enough to drive.
HRT are yet to reveal who will be driving for them and when. The team are expected to run their new car at the test.
Here is the full list of drivers who will be participating in the test:
| Team | Car | 8th | 9th | 10th | 11th | 12th |
| Red Bull | RB7 | Mark Webber | Sebastian Vettel | Webber | Vettel | |
| McLaren | MP4-26 | Jenson Button | Lewis Hamilton | Button | Hamilton | |
| Ferrari | 150?�?? Italia | Felipe Massa | Massa | Fernando Alonso | Alonso | |
| Mercedes | W02 | Nico Rosberg | Michael Schumacher | Schumacher | Rosberg | |
| Renault | R31 | Nick Heidfeld | Vitaly Petrov | Petrov | Heidfeld | |
| Williams | FW33 | Pastor Maldonado | Rubens Barrichello | Barrichello | Maldonado | |
| Force India | VJM04 | Nico Hulkenberg (am) Paul di Resta |
di Resta | Adrian Sutil | Sutil/di Resta | |
| Sauber | C30 | Sergio Perez | Kamui Kobayashi | Perez | Kobayashi | |
| Toro Rosso | STR6 | Sebastien Buemi | Buemi | Jaime Alguersuari | Alguersuari | |
| Lotus | T128 | Davide Valsecchi and Luiz Razia (am) Jarno Trulli (pm) |
Trulli | Trulli (am) Heikki Kovalainen (pm) |
Kovalainen | |
| HRT | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA |
| Virgin | MVR-02 | Jerome d’Ambrosio | d’Ambrosio | d’Ambrosio | d’Ambrosio |
Update: McLaren have confirmed they will test on the first and last two days. The table above has been updated to reflect this.
2011 F1 testing
Image © Pirelli
OEL
7th March 2011, 10:04
For a moment I read “test driver”. As if they would get any on track running.
OEL
7th March 2011, 10:06
Then I read Hulkenberg will actually drive!
Kum
7th March 2011, 10:07
I think it’s time for HRT to stop making fool out of themselves and leave formula1
BasCB (@bascb)
7th March 2011, 10:11
I expect them to be there and suprise us by what they bring on track (both the drivers – all 4 of them and the car).
Good job they managed to keep going so far.
Chalky
7th March 2011, 13:29
I shouldn’t but I misread that as “all 4 of them in the car”, like they were going to drive round in a saloon car. :D
I hope they get there. F1 is not all about the front runners and I enjoy seeing who is battling throughout the field.
Spaulding (@spaulding)
7th March 2011, 13:49
Well, maybe HRT are going to instead run the safety car and stay out of the way and let the other teams race.
AC
7th March 2011, 20:21
Go HRT! Nay sayers say nay! Givem’ he– boys!
Apeman
7th March 2011, 10:27
I couldn’t agree more. They’re a complete shambles and bring nothing to the sport except embarrassment.
ad3
8th March 2011, 0:54
That comment sounds a little bit stuck-up tbh apeman. I think its refreshing seeing a little “un-professionalism” in the refined and polished world of modern f1- the ill-prepared minnows trying to survive against all the odds. They get very little camera-time over a GP weekend and when they do receive coverage they’re normally up to something entertaining. I think they bring back an extra dimension to f1- cars often used to fail to qualify within the seven percent rule, something which i dont think would have affected HRT last year.
Whilst i often disagree with the way they seem to run their team (eg. driver selection), i- like everyone else on this site, presumably- have no experience of team ownership and no sufficient insight into the innermost workings of the team to be able to justifiably attack them in that respect.
Besides, what a story it would be if in 10 years time they were battling the frontrunners, with veteran driver Lewis Hamilton looking to beat Lotus’ Daniel Ricciardo to claim his 5th and final WDC…
Ben Curly (@ben-curly)
7th March 2011, 11:15
I’ll reserve my judgment until the first race, although I agree that it’s a shame. For a new team it would be acceptable, but for a team with one year under the belt it’s a bit embarrassing.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
7th March 2011, 13:13
Agreed. It’s only fair to really judge them after Melbourne. Admiteddly the signs don’t look brilliant but still!
Todfod (@todfod)
7th March 2011, 11:23
Couldn’t agree more. At first I thought it was funny that they were so disorganised and cash strapped, and them hiring Karthikeyan definitely got a few good laughs out of us. But now I’m just getting ticked off at how unprofessional they are, and what a waste of a grid slot HRT is.
Icthyes (@icthyes)
7th March 2011, 12:35
There’s already an empty grid slot and no-one was good enough to take it.
I wish people would stop hating on HRT just because of Kolles’ management.
Andy C
7th March 2011, 15:06
Absolutely agree.
Although I dont really agree with Kolles, all he has been trying to do is save the team from what was a very poorly thought out and executed plan by Campos.
Unfortunately those who forget the history of F1 don’t appreciate that a team that starts off as unreliable or poor can turn into something quite different.
Ru_Bd
7th March 2011, 15:33
But r u forget about Stefan GP, they are tried rigorously to enter into F1 in 2010 and again in 2011 with Toyota car and enough money, but instead denied entry. no body know why but what i think that if they given opportunity to run then they might upset some established midfield team.
Icthyes (@icthyes)
7th March 2011, 20:01
Because they were a joke with nothing to back up their press releases. I do miss those though!
Solo (@solo)
7th March 2011, 12:48
This comment should only be made if they failed to appear at the test. We don’t know yet, so why does everyone feel like jumping the gun?
They said there new car will be in the last test two month ago.
Nothing has changed since then so i don’t get why someone who was not judgmental about them then, will be now. Wait after the test and if they failed at their word then fire away.
zecks
7th March 2011, 13:17
Is anyone actually down at the circuit? can you tell us if any HRT lorries have shown up?
Fixy (@)
7th March 2011, 16:13
I mean, at least announce the drivers! It isn’t too much of work I think.
GeeMac (@geemac)
7th March 2011, 10:08
The six most telling letters are “HRT TBA”.
sw6569 (@sw6569)
7th March 2011, 10:25
so true!
just a load of hrt air
GeeMac (@geemac)
7th March 2011, 10:50
Its so sad, I love the independent teams, I really do, but HRT need to get serious. You have to be in F1 to be a real competitor, if your aim isn’t to improve season by season, what the heck are you doing in the sport!
OEL
7th March 2011, 12:06
Wasn’t their aim to beat Lotus and Virgin this year?
Hamish
7th March 2011, 12:34
Well they beat Virgin last year and they didn’t debut until Bahrain qualifying!
Coefficient
7th March 2011, 12:08
They are improving, they’re testing this year which is a big change over last year.
Give them a break, they might just surprise us all. Geoff Willis is a pretty handy designer, I think they’ll be quicker than Virgin.
Andy C
7th March 2011, 15:18
Geemac,
I’m not a fan of Kolles but what is clear is that they’ve been right on the line of serious trouble since he came into the team.
Whether you like him or not (and I personally dont), all he is trying to do at the moment is get the best deal for HRT to keep them going.
For this year, there are some potential positives in the use of the Williams trans, geoff willis led design changes.
(and this comment isnt aimed at you geemac)I absolutely can’t stand it when people slate a team basically because they are not Ferrari or redbull in their second season.
The car hasnt even run yet, and potentially should be a good step in the right direction.
For those criticising, they should look at the history of the sport.
I for one will be delighted to see them quicker than Virgin, just to prove some of the haters wrong.
The people that got HRT into trouble are not the people now running the team.
sw6569 (@sw6569)
7th March 2011, 15:24
Geemac hasn’t commented on Kolles. It’s the team as a whole that give the impression of being disorganised and a bit rubbish. Everyone likes an underdog yet no one [really] likes HRT. The underdog supporters have mainly flocked to Virgin/Lotus. The team just don’t give the right impression right now, regardless of who runs it. If they produce a half decent car, attend testing and try to be professional then my mind will change. Thus far though, they haven’t done any of the above.
sw6569 (@sw6569)
7th March 2011, 15:27
*attend testing with the new car
[and thats why I dislike the TBA status. I’m not even sure there is a new car, if anything it’ll be an evolution due to time and money constraints]
GeeMac (@geemac)
7th March 2011, 17:28
A fair comment, but inaccurate.
I don’t mind Kolles, and he is doing a fair job, but I get the impression from HRT that they are running from one crisis to another rather than trying to become a proper racing team. I’ve supported HRT since the first day (because I like an underdog, and I like Bruno Senna), but other teams (notably Team Lotus) are set up in a far more organised manner, and are proper little racing teams with long term ambitions.
In short, HRT need to get serious about F1 long term, or do the noble thing and fold.
AC
7th March 2011, 20:24
I like HRT.
rhj8899
7th March 2011, 23:25
agree with sw656. anybody still remember HRT’s awesome paint job at last year’s abu dhabi test??
it’s their action that make people think they are a bunch of . . . .
Andy c
7th March 2011, 21:54
Can’t reply to your reply to me, but I meant that kolles has been working hard to resurrect what started as a dire attempt to run a team.
I think of they can get into the end of the season this year, they can build on it for the future.
Kolles and willis is the chance they have to do well in the future. If they get through yr 2 they’ll do ok.
Spaulding (@spaulding)
7th March 2011, 13:52
It’s probably still TBA because they still don’t know for sure who their second driver is. Although it is eerily similar to the USF1 fiasco…
BasCB (@bascb)
7th March 2011, 10:10
So all is confirmed but for HRT actually having the new car present and knowing who will be driving.
If the new car is there, I would expect they give it to Narain first, then have a newby paying for it in the afternoon and possibly second day while doing installation laps etc. Than hand it to Narain to get some setup done and have Klien in the car (if he brings some funding) or someone else with money (V.d. Garde? or any crative Kolles ideas) to pay for shipping to Australia.
Second driver will possibly be announced only at the start of the Australian weekend.
codesurge (@codesurge)
7th March 2011, 10:41
“F150th Italia”
Keith, I think you’d better ask Ferrari’s press department to treat you to some limoncello for all the car naming headaches they’ve caused!
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
7th March 2011, 10:49
It was inevitably going to catch me out sooner or later! Have changed it, thanks.
Rob Wilson
7th March 2011, 10:58
I just hope the MP4-26 is fastest just on 1 of the days, it would just be a glimour of hope going into the new season that this isn’t a repeat of 2009.
Unfortunately my enthusiasm for the sport depends entirely on how far up the grid Lewis is which made 2009 a very boring year for me – bar Hungary and Singapore. I think if McLaren are playing catch up for the whole season again, which is seeming likely, i think Lewis should seriously consider a move to replace Webber in 2013. Can McLaren produce a championship winning car while Whitmarch in in charge? I don’t know.
VXR
7th March 2011, 11:53
Fastest over a race sim would be ideal.
Fastest laps don’t tell you anything, but they do make the headlines!
Hamilton is a McLaren man, bought and paid for. He won’t be going anywhere just yet, and Red Bull can certainly do without the agro.
Are McLaren not producing fast enough cars simply because Martin Whitmarsh is Team boss?
Well, you have to go a long way back in time to see when Ron Dennis was last successful in the driver and constructors championships.
Rob Wilson
7th March 2011, 12:32
Yeah realistically i can’t see Hamilton moving either, but i think if he stays at McLaren he’s looking at 3 World Championships during his career whereas, looking at Red Bull’s form of late a move could deliver him maybe 5 over his career. But McLaren is his family, unfortunately a family that can only deliver him the 3rd fastest car on the grid at the moment.
Solo (@solo)
7th March 2011, 13:02
Red Bull will give him 4 more championships? Come on there is no evidence of such a thing. Red Bull may very well be a big firework for 2-4 years and then go away like Benetton was. On the other hand you can always count that Mclaren and Ferrari will be there fighting it out.
His in the best position he will ever be, right where he is.
Btw too bad you get so disappointed when he struggles with a bad car because you are missing the enjoyment of some great driving.
I enjoyed the 2009 season of Lewis very much because even if the car was bad it was just so exciting watching him pulling that car the way he was. For example i was jumping at my seat at Malaysia when he was fighting with a Mark Webber that was like 2 seconds faster than him in the wet and yet he repassed him 2 times before finally losing the battle. That was some crazy staff Senna used to pull.
Rob Wilson
7th March 2011, 14:08
Nah Vettels in a better position, as is Webber and Alonso. Hamilton is in a position at the moment where if Red Bull and Ferrari mess up he can claim a victory. McLaren forever playing catch up is dissapointing.
In respose to your second paragraph, on looking back yes i recall moments that were special – fighting his way up from the back and so on, It’s just i would rather see him in the fastest car rather than one he has to ring the neck of every other weekend to try and keep up.
VXR
7th March 2011, 13:19
You win as a team and you lose as a team, and there’s no guarantee that a team like Red Bull would even want the services of Lewis Hamilton.
And World Champions are not guaranteed, not even in the best car. It may be that he never wins another championship again!
Coefficient
7th March 2011, 13:54
Tim Goss I believe is the weak link.
VXR
7th March 2011, 14:21
Well, you have to blame someone I suppose.
He must be feeling like that proverbial ‘Elephant in the room’ right now.
anTONIo
7th March 2011, 12:19
No, they cannot!
Stephen Jones (@aus_steve)
7th March 2011, 11:01
Jerome’s got his work cut out!
DVC (@dvc)
7th March 2011, 11:41
I wish people would stop dissing HRT. Yes, they are at the bottom of the grid, and their prospects don’t look great, but they are trying and there have been far worse in F1. Far far worse.
Todfod (@todfod)
7th March 2011, 11:59
Name me one team that has been far worse than HRT
Icthyes (@icthyes)
7th March 2011, 12:37
Andrea Moda
GeeMac (@geemac)
7th March 2011, 12:48
Have ou got all day! Pacific, Forti, Mastercard Lola, Rial etc etc!
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
7th March 2011, 12:50
Rial got fourth place once!
Klon (@)
7th March 2011, 15:30
Actually, it were two fourth places. But both were simply due to surviving, not much of own speed involved. If we were to have the Bahrain race in the middle of the summer break we might just as well see a vehicle massacre such as the 1989 United States Grand Prix and we could see a HRT finishing fourth. Rial’s management style can be very well described as HRT-like.
GeeMac (@geemac)
7th March 2011, 17:31
The luckiest 4th place in history as anyone on F1rejects will tell you! ;)
Jp
7th March 2011, 23:02
and… i was there, danner-phoenix ’89
what a hoot that was..thanks for the great site keith
VXR
7th March 2011, 14:29
You should have seen some of the stuff that turned up for pre-qualifying!
The ‘Life’ car had an innovative ‘W’ engine too! Kept going wrong though….
Mike
8th March 2011, 9:21
I know Ferrari is made of chocolate and has a non-fattening syrupy topping.
But can’t you guys, just for once, give the bitter-sweet HRT a try?
Toro Stevo
7th March 2011, 12:11
Exactly, people have short memories. Some of the outfits that popped up after the turbos were out were much worse: Lola, Forti, Life, Coloni and easily the worst of all, Andrea Moda.
So far HRT have turned up to every GP so far with 2 drivers (sometimes different from the last one), and haven’t exactly been embarrassing, just slow. Life’s hard at the bottom. As long as they don’t hire Deletraz I think they’ll be alright.
Todfod (@todfod)
7th March 2011, 12:26
Out of all the teams you mentioned.. Andrea Moda was the only one you can compare to HRT. They had a similar level of disorganisation, chaos and lack of focus.
Lola, Forti, Life were all back of the grid team who were unfortunate enough to be present during the 107% rule era. If the same rule existed last year, HRT would be an even bigger joke than they are now.
Icthyes (@icthyes)
7th March 2011, 12:41
All those teams you mention were just as off the pace as HRT last year, if not more so.
Todfod (@todfod)
7th March 2011, 12:49
And how many of those teams didn’t have a car for the upcoming season or pre season testing?
And how many of them had only one driver, who is amongst the worst drivers to ever set foot in an F1 car. How many of them are trying to sue an ex-driver because he couldn’t get enough funding into the team?
Its not only about being off the pace, as all new teams struggle. But it just looks like HRT do not want to improve.. or race.. or test.. or even announce a driver lineup.
Toro Stevo
7th March 2011, 13:01
A lot of those teams didn’t show their car until the season started, or in a lot of cases were racing chassis that were barely modified over 2-3 years. A lot of them swapped drivers on a weekly basis, had some of the worst F1 drivers ever, and were always embroiled in financial and legal problems.
HRT do want to get better, but they don’t have the money, simple as that. I’m not even sure if they got a cut of last year’s tv money (it was originally designed between only the top 10), but they may have changed that.
Icthyes (@icthyes)
7th March 2011, 14:11
Just goes to show what they’ve achieved even with hopeless organisation.
Neither did HRT last year!
So their effort was less than HRT’s
HRT weren’t too far off being as bad!
Sounds like HRT to me!
Sorry, I don’t know if you’re agreeing with me or not, I just had to point all that out.
thatscienceguy
7th March 2011, 12:52
actually I’m pretty sure that HRT would still have qualified for most if not all races last year under the 107% rule. I seem to remember when people first starting talking about bringing it back someone went and did the maths to show HRT were still inside.
Toro Stevo
7th March 2011, 13:34
I just went back and did it again, using the 107% rule in Q1:
27 qualifications from 38 attempts. They would have had both drivers at 12 races, one driver at 3 races (Senna missing out by 0.01% in Spain and 0.16% in Sinagpore, Chandhok because of car trouble in Canada), and only missed four (Bahrain, Malaysia, Hungary and Belgium), three of which were rain affected Q1 sessions from memory. Hardly scraping in, considering that Alonso would not even have been allowed to race at Monaco, or Petrov in Belgium, if you apply the rule properly.
jsw11984 (@jarred-walmsley)
7th March 2011, 19:12
And in all likely hood, Spain and Singapore would have come under the exemptions rule as it would have been 10ths or 100th’s of a second when the rule was designed to exclude those who were massively slower.
gDog
7th March 2011, 22:44
and likely they would have been allowed to start all the races under the special circumstances (accidents, weather, etc) as they showed they were consistently within the 107% at previous races.
Toro Stevo
7th March 2011, 12:55
HRT would still have qualified for a few grands prix under the 107% rule, even taking the fastest qualifying from different sessions where rain wasn’t a factor (China, Monaco and Turkey are three examples I can find). They were 6-7 seconds off the pace at worse last year, and there were teams in the 90s a lot further off than that.
Life never qualified for a grand prix, and at one stage the mechanics didn’t put oil in the car for a qualifying run because they hadn’t been paid.
Lola turned up to one event.
Maybe a little harsh on Forti and Coloni though. But HRT has so far been comparable to these two, and much better than Life, Lola or Andrea Moda ever were.
Solo (@solo)
7th March 2011, 13:07
No HRT wouldn’t have qualified for a few GP with the 107% rule. They would have qualified for MOST if not all Gp last year. The math had been made before and HRT wasn’t outside of the 107% rule at all.
Considering many teams at the past failed to get in the 107% rule, then yes, HRT is better than many many teams.
sw6569 (@sw6569)
7th March 2011, 15:34
People do have short memories yes – as it is completely correct to say that there have been worse teams than HRT.
However, HRT exists in F1 with limited grid slots. They took away the chance to see Prodrive or Epsilon in F1. That may not have been HRT’s fault [either because the formers’ presentations simply weren’t good enough, or because of a corrupt FIA] but certainly we were denied teams with racing heritage from entering F1.
Because of this, and the modern day professionalism of all sports, HRT cannot possibly act like they do at the moment (i.e. pulling out of a race test to do photo work) and be considered professional.
You cannot compare HRT to any former teams, only the current ones. And compared to the current ones, they are a paddock joke. I hope that changes, but right now I can’t see it happening.
sw6569 (@sw6569)
7th March 2011, 15:35
*or whatever it was that they pulled out of the test for. I don’t buy that they completed their program early. No serious race team would say that.
Klon (@)
7th March 2011, 19:00
Please do not mention this team anymore. They already had a grid slot and blew it. Against Prodrive, HRT is the textbook definition of professionalism. Heck, even Andrea Moda looked better than Prodrive ever did.
Andy c
7th March 2011, 22:00
Didn’t prodrive propose to use customer mclaren chassis, which is effectively (barring a token production of parts) What redbulls second team did?
sw6569 (@sw6569)
8th March 2011, 8:17
That’s just untrue. As Andy C has mentioned, Prodrive did have a slot and signed up to F1 on the basis that customer cars were to be allowed. They were to be to McLaren what Torro Rosso are to Red Bull.
They never intended to build their own chassis at that point. Their entry for the 2010 championship may have been tainted by that, but it was professional and at that point they had the resources to build the 2010 car. HRT barely had that. They were lucky to have even been present on the grid.
James
7th March 2011, 11:48
Hispania’s driver line up for Australia: TBC (Joke, I know Karthikeyan should be racing)
They need to hurry up and sort it out though. I almost feel embarassed for them not having their line up ready.
Faraz
7th March 2011, 12:11
I thought Karun was getting a team lotus test??
US_Peter (@us_peter)
7th March 2011, 17:40
I was wondering about that as well. The week before last on The Flying Lap, he said he was closing in on a deal. Doesn’t sound like it if two other drivers are getting tests and he still is not…
Meander
7th March 2011, 12:41
McLaren have decided to skip the Thursday in favor of the Saturday. No reason given so far.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
7th March 2011, 12:44
Where’d you see that?
KP
7th March 2011, 13:30
GP Update
VXR
7th March 2011, 13:41
http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/253876/mclaren-modifies-barcelona-testing-plans/
VXR
7th March 2011, 13:43
Possibly because rain is forecast for Saturday?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
7th March 2011, 14:15
Have had confirmation and updated the story. Thanks for the tip!
Bharath
7th March 2011, 13:06
Hi Fanatics,
What do you think of Force India performance this year??
From previous tests I reckon they were behind Renault, Sauber, Williams & ever Toro rosso !!!
Cheers !
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
7th March 2011, 13:14
Kinda hard to say until we’re in a race situation. Test times really aren’t that indicative unless you know the details of million-plus variables!
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
7th March 2011, 13:14
I bet D’Ambrosio is relishing this weekend. Though if he doesn’t deliver i’m sure alot of people will be quick to point out his slight advantage during testing.
Fixy (@)
7th March 2011, 13:35
How will they deal with two drivers in the morning? Especially if the car has some sort of problem.
Toxic (@)
7th March 2011, 16:51
I am kind of more positive when it comes to HRT. Wasn’t that the team which was fighting for Toyota’s chassis? Maybe this is why they are struggling so much. They didn’t start to develop the car early enough cause they were hoping for this “already-made” car.
Oliver
7th March 2011, 17:31
Four teams were given en entry into F1, the most promising of them all, USF1, didn’t even make it to the grid.
Lotus, had sound financing and structure.
Manor/Virgin had good funding and structure.
HRT on the other hand were already in shambles a few weeks before the start of last season. Kolles rescued the team at the very last minute and gave it a structure, or at the very least, semblance of one.
Since that very moment, they have been puting out little fires at every next turn. It is nothing but will power that is keeping HRT in exixtence, and I very much appreciate that from he little team.
Where many lesser men will have long since thrown in the towel, Kolles is still battling to succeed at not failing. A notewothy lesson many should heed.
For that he has earned my admiration.
Oliver
7th March 2011, 17:53
HRT didn’t take the place of Prodrive or deny them one either. David Richards saw the terms and wisely declined to apply. He doesn’t want to take the long suffering road to success.
So get your facts right.
The FIA could have given USF1’s slot to Epsilon, why they chose not to, you will have to ask them.
Nathan
8th March 2011, 0:50
Will Torro Rosso give Daniel a drive on the 5th day of the test? Or wil they not even run the car on the 12th…? I would have thought he’d get some time behind the wheel atleast….
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
8th March 2011, 2:07
No they will only run for 4 days,so Daniel won’t get the chance to drive for the team.
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
8th March 2011, 2:06
So final five days of action before we take things to the battle ground.It will be interesting to see which team have came up with the improvement.
Shimks
8th March 2011, 9:18
So it’s Barcelona, the final test before the season starts. And what am I the most excited about? And what are the people on this site talking about the most?
HRT!
I can’t wait to see what happens. One thing is for sure, those people in that team are trying their hardest to make it all happen. And it will happen. After last year’s USF1 fiasco, the FIA – behind the scenes – will have made sure HRT have a car, have a steering, have four wheels, an engine and a driver.
We need the little teams. It makes the sport far more interesting. And who knows where they will be in the future.
Trying against the odds is commendable. It’s what passion is all about. Why anyone would think teams like HRT make a mockery of F1 is beyond me. We don’t want 8 Red Bulls, 8 Ferraris and 8 McLarens on the track, now, do we.
Look at how Force India have improved. Look at Toro Rosso. And look at what Lotus achieved in their first season.
Not all teams will do well. Some will do miserably badly. But we need them all; the front-runners and the back-markers.
The very essence of competition is negated by the assumption that all competitors should have a mininum level of professionalism. NO! They just need passion! The rest they can learn along the way…