Friday: HRT is not fast enough but remains optimistic
At the end of a day of Free Practice where the HRT drivers were unable to test the car with a full tank of fuel to evaluate tire behavior, Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan are relatively satisfied with their practice sessions and optimistic about their chances to compete with their main rivals in qualifying.
Pedro de la Rosa – 23rd and 22nd:
« Generally speaking, today went quite well. Despite the fact that we were not able to do long stints with a full tank to see how the tires would react, we at least had the opportunity to test both compounds at the start of Free Practice 2.
The car performed well from the start of the second session, but we still need to improve it a bit for tomorrow, especially to make it faster in slow corners because it’s oversteering. But we have a clear direction and a good foundation, so all we have left to do now is work.
Narain Karthikeyan – 24th [in Free Practice 2]:
« The Hungaroring is virtually a new track for me because I haven’t driven here in seven years, so I would have liked to have more dry mileage, but the rain caught us by surprise.
The track is quite bumpy and technical, so it’s quite hard to find your marks, but I think we did a good job. We are not too far from our main rivals and I think tomorrow we will compete (with them).
Dani Clos – 24th [in Free Practice 1]:
Today, I was finally able to enjoy a session on dry conditions. Towards the end of the session, we were doing very well with used tires, and I feel better and better each time in the F112. Like all Friday morning sessions, the objective was to have a first contact with the circuit and start improving the settings. I still need to cover more kilometers to continue progressing, but today I have taken another step.
