HRT to miss Mugello test

2012 F1 testing

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HRT have announced they will not participate in the three-day test at Mugello next week.

Team principal Luis Perez-Sala said: “The start to the season was a little bit rushed for us and, since the cars were set up for the first time, we have been working on them at the Grands Prix.

“The team and the material have just got back from Bahrain after leaving for Australia in early March. And they return, for the first time, to the team’s new headquarters at the Caja Magica in Madrid. This move is very important for us and by not going to Mugello we can work thoroughly on the car to prepare for the Spanish Grand Prix.

“We won’t have the new upgrade package until then so we’ve preferred to focus on what can contribute more to us, which is teamwork at the headquarters. And there is a lot to do.”

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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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36 comments on “HRT to miss Mugello test”

  1. Have they even got anything to bolt onto the car to check? Not exactly sure what HRT have been developing during the fly away races.

    1. In 2010 (and 2011 I think?) the car that attempted to qualify in Melbourne remained unchanged throughout the season. No additional parts whatsoever. I think that says it all.

      1. James, Obviously you do not know any thing about the HRT F1Team, the owners of the new F112 have nothing to do with the old Hispania HRT, read my other items, I have friends in the new team and trust me this is tottaly new, the only thing the kept was the Name because the original FIA and FOM licences were Hispania Racing Team, so for practical reason Thesan capital the new owner a investment hedge fund Company just kept the neams as HRT F1 Team. the entire team is 98% new including Designers. they moved to a new HQ/Factory in Madrid

  2. Have to give HRT time with the new direction that they have decided to go for. Performing a 3 days test in Mugello is expensive and in the case of HRT where they do not have any upgrades at this time it is smart to stay at the headquarters to work improving their car (as there is definately improvement required) Next year HRT will be a better and more stable team as they would have settled down in their new environment.

    1. that’s what everyone said the first two years.

    2. i think they should stay in their headquarters for the remainder of the season. after all, the races are also very expensive.

      it would mean a few less roadblocks for the other teams.

  3. HRT, Marussia, and Caterham can pretty much do their testing at Grand Prix weekends. For their standing in the constructor’s, they only need 1 good result, like a 12th place, and then it doesn’t really matter what they do for the other 19 races – of course, you want to be in good shape should the opportunity for a good result arise, but it’s not like they should score every weekend. So unless someone would be willing to pay good money to ‘test’ their car, it’s better to stay at home.

    1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      25th April 2012, 15:04

      @keithcollantine, @andrewtanner, is it possible for a small team as HRT to miss some races in order to save some money, and to participate, let’s say, every three races with a probable “acceptable” package in order to fight for at least a couple of pointa? Or is it a compromise from teams to participate in all the races despite of the fact that they are really awful most of the time? I’d rally like to see them, as well as Ctherham and Virgin, with the possibility to fight with at least Toro Rosso or Williams.

      1. No I believe every team is contractually obliged to attend every race

  4. I just don’t get the point of HRT. Every team has to start somewhere, look at where Force India are now compared to where they started … but this is a joke. They’ve never made it to a (proper) testing session, only have one major sponsor, hiring drivers because their spanish, locating in Spain when the best engineering is in Britain. They need to be more realistic, this is the pinnacle of motor sport, you can never be competitive on a shoestring budget. they should have had all this in place before they chose to enter the sport so they could hit the ground running. now theyre washing their dirty laundry in public.

    1. Agree… and I’m not surprised that HRT isn’t making it. Have they made it for any test session since they’ve entered the sport?

      This team makes me laugh

      1. With all due respect you can’t put force India in the same boat as hrt, marussia and caterham when speaking in terms of what a “new” team is.

  5. Why would they need Mugello when they’ve had the first four races as in-season tests :D :D :D

  6. When the game is at this level and you can’t or won’t even take advantage of developement times is a sign that the handwriting is on the wall. The gap to HRT will become greater and sorry to say that the end is near for them. It is kind of pointless for them isn’t it??

  7. Obviously no hands to spare. I wonder if the drivers will be lifting boxes to help out with moving in?

  8. Mike the bike Schumacher (@mike-the-bike-schumacher)
    25th April 2012, 19:03

    H.R.T: Half***** Racing Team!

    1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      26th April 2012, 17:05

      or Humilliating Ruined Tests

  9. I think it was on the BBC F1 Forum that someone from Marussia said that although their cars have completed a few races now the test would be highly beneficial to them as they could do all the things you do at a test rather than over a Grand Prix weekend.

    So HRT missing the test is a bad sign and would usually make me worry about their future. But I would like to think that they have decided to write off this season in terms of catching Marussia or any of the other teams and instead are going to focus as much as possible on the future.

  10. This is the team that has a young driver program yet they can’t qualify for all of the racer or go to testing because it costs too much. The pride of Spain. I bet someone’s ancestor led the Armada.

    1. Spain 20 percent plus unemployment. They spend spend spend on everything from multiple F1 races, multiple motogp races and soccer. Too bad for all the young people with no employment prospects who then cant afford a ticket to the F1 or motogp or buy a bike or a car.

  11. This seems like a sensible idea to me. As long as they can keep the money coming in and find some suitable consistency on track and off track I see no problems for them. Surely the worst of it is over now, they had a lot of changes over the winter break and continue to do so.

  12. HRT = Hopeless Racing Team.

    Why do you want to waste time by testing, when you want your cars to finish in the last two spots?

    1. @neelv27 – Did you read the article? I’m guessing you just read the headline before commenting, because if you had bothered to read the article, you’d see that Luiz Perez-Sala gives a very good reason for missing the test.

      Testing would do very little for HRT right now, because off the track, they’re all over the place. It was only during the winter break that they managed to get everything together in one place at one time – until 2012, the grid entry was controlled from Spain while the team was run out of Colin Kolles’ workshop in Germany. Thesan Capital, HRT’s owners, have managed to get everything together under one roof in Valencia. However, this is only a temporary solution when they get ready to move to their new facility in Caja Magica, Madrid.

      And that is why they are skipping the Mugello test. The Caja Magica facility is ready, and by skipping the Mugello test, they get an extra week to set themselves up. The break between Bahrain and Barcelona is the biggest break between now and August; the next seven rounds of the championship are being run every two weeks like clockwork. This is the best and earliest chance that HRT will get to set themselves up at Caja Magica.

      Sure, it would be nice to go to Mugello and get some testing miles down. But they won’t count for much if the new facility is in disarray. Not going to Mugello will hurt the team in the short term, but in the long run, it will pay off better. This is something that the team needs to do, the last big thing that needs to happen before they can start seriously developing the car and making progress up the grid.

      1. Well, I read the article but unfortunately you read too much into my post.

        This team is in it’s 3rd year in the sport and every season we find them desperately fighting against the clock on track and fighting even more intensely off track with finances. In the last 42 races that it entered, it’s ownership has changed hands thrice.

        Many celebrate when teams like HRT finish a grand prix distance and praise them for finishing it but David Coulthard rightly pointed out,

        “Formula One is not a finishing school. Either you come prepared, or prepare to fail. This is the pinnacle of world motorsport. Has the world gone mad? F1 is a dangerous sport at the best of times but asking teams to just turn up at practice on a Friday before a race is plain irresponsible.”

        Running in it’s 3rd year, HRT has not rolled out it’s wheels ever in testing. Yes, you might say that things are on the up and the new management seems more committed but they are still hounded by the financial-ghost.

        I am not against teams that are at the back of the grid and don’t score points. Some teams would be in that situation. At least Marussia and Caterham are showing the intent of moving up the grid whereas HRT is just trying to survive in the sport.

        1. At least Marussia and Caterham are showing the intent of moving up the grid whereas HRT is just trying to survive in the sport.

          But now that they have consolidated themselves into one entity, they can start to make real progress. It was the biggest thing hindering them since 2010, and they’ve overcome it.

          1. At least they have named a part of the car after you…

            the Prisoner Monkey Seat…

          2. … Huh?

        2. HRT F1 was bought by the investment company “Thesan capital” late Nov 2011, HRT F1 had to keep the name it was registered with in order to the get proceed from the FOM and to comply with FIA rules. The new owners did not want to continue with old Hispania team or Colin Koles and rejected his design for their 2012 racer and decided to start afresh from zero late November 2011, so they only had less than to 3 month to put together a new team ( which is 98% new people) and started the F112 design and build from zero early December. Remarkable job considering their circumstances, they managed to reduce by more than 4″ in only four races. A new sponsor (major International Bank) will be announced at Barcelona GP, quite a few upgrades will be introduced also at the Barcelona GP, including a new lighter chassis, (at present the heaviest of the Grid) and new aero package which should help the F112 to catch up with the new teams, this was confirmed last week by the HRT’s German designer. but of course the good news do not attract readersthere is no point to follow F1 if all the participant teams where winners, or within 2 10th of the top dogs, like in life itself the majority of us mortals seldom win any thing worth telling or boast about, we need the small team to get the new young drivers racing in F1, because the big teams only will consider the top drivers and with that creating elitism and stopping new blood and ideas coming to the sport. I am a McLaren fan but love to see these new team fighting with faction of the budget of large teams, they should be appreciated if not idolized, not put down by ignoramus or single cell individuals .

  13. You guys clearly don’t remember the Lola of the mid 90’s or Andrea Moda team. In comparison, HRT are doing just fine. Despite what everyone says, finishing first isnt everything. Just ask the Minardi fans

  14. Sound decision from HRT. They’re still a rookie team.
    Yes, the entry has been with us for 2 years, but the team and infrastructure are entirely new for this year.
    So I think they’re doing ok.

    The same applies for Marussia, who relied on CFD-only which in the end didn’t work (still not convinced if that’s because of the approach, or the lack of good ideas as input for the CFD).

  15. Surely they could send one car from Madrid to Mugello…..they could find a time improvement simply by findiing out how to set the car they have now…up better…
    What a waste

    1. My Friend please ask your self this: what is point to test an f1 car that is mostly is going to be replace the chassis and will have a new aero pack to suit the CHASSIS, I would say none, HRT have contracted Mercedes F1 wind tunnel Facilities near Silverstone, also they are using a state of the art simulator with all data gathered to date, there is where Pedro and Narrain will be testing the new virtual configuration during now and Barcelona GP. Please Give this guys a chance and stop jumping on the bandwagon.

  16. Neel Jani,
    Once again you are based you write up on assumptions, obviously you are not following HRT F1 team so you are only commenting on what you perceive from the casual glance at this team. If you knew anything about HRT in its present form, you would not have written what you did. For your information if you care to know the true facts, HRT F1 team is brand new and was bought by the investment company “Thesan capital” late Nov 2011 from Sr Carabante the previous Hispania Owner , unfortunately HRT F1 had to keep the name it was registered with in order to the get proceed from the FOM and to comply with FIA rules. The new owners did not want to continue with old Hispania team or Colin Koles and rejected his design for their 2012 racer and decided to start afresh from zero late November 2011, so they only had less than to 3 month to put together a new team ( which is 98% new people) and started the F112 design and build from zero early December. Remarkable job considering their circumstances, they managed to reduce by more than 4″ in only four races. A new sponsor (major International Bank) will be announced at Barcelona GP, quite a few upgrades will be introduced also at the Barcelona GP, including a new lighter chassis, (at present the heaviest of the Grid) and new aero package which should help the F112 to catch up with the new teams, this was confirmed last week by the HRT’s German designer. but of course the good news do not attract readers..

  17. Thanks for the update! Thats great news for HRT, really hope they do well. i dont understand all these people slagging them off. its great we have 24 cars on the grid and these lot will improve…

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