HRT hopes to continue its progress in Shanghai

The HRT team did not participate in pre-season testing and the F112 made its first laps in Australia. The Spanish team is still in the learning phase with its new car, but Pedro de la Rosa believes that things are moving in the right direction: “After these first two Grand Prix, we are heading to China much better prepared, with more kilometers behind us and having learned a lot, especially after the Malaysian Grand Prix. All the data collected during the last race is very important for us, because we must not forget that we did not have a pre-season.”

His teammate, Narain Karthikeyan, shares the same view. The Indian driver had a good race in Malaysia and is therefore confident for the Chinese Grand Prix: «We made a step forward in Malaysia and our goal is clearly to maintain this momentum in China and for the rest of the season. Even though we managed to finish the race, cooling was an issue in Sepang and once we managed to resolve it, we were able to extract a bit more performance from the car.»

Improving is clearly the team’s goal, and Luiz-Pérez Sala, the director of HRT, thinks it’s a goal within reach for his men this weekend at the Shanghai International Circuit: The start of the season has been very complicated because we were behind schedule compared to the other teams. We had to make a colossal effort to be on track in Australia and improve our performance a week later in Malaysia. There is still a lot to do and many areas to improve, but at least we have been able to take a little more time to analyze the data in these past two weeks, we have been able to prepare, recharge our batteries, and I am therefore convinced that we are arriving in China much better prepared.

As Pedro de la Rosa also explains, the team will continue to improve race after race by learning to better understand the F112: We now have a much better visibility on the areas we need to improve, but the most important thing at this start of the season is to finish the races. This is the priority objective in order to be able to learn and improve race after race.

The HRT team is doing everything possible to improve the performance of their car, as they plan to introduce some updates in China, as stated by Luis-Pérez Sala: “We must not forget that the F112 is in its early stages, and currently, what we need to do is progress continuously. In Shanghai, we will have some small updates to improve cooling and aerodynamics, and the goal for this weekend is to verify that these modifications work. In summary, we must extract more from the car but also improve our teamwork and coordination.”

The few aerodynamic updates will not be too much according to Pedro de la Rosa because the Shanghai track requires a car with good aero: «China is a circuit where I have always done well, and it’s a place I know well, both in dry and wet conditions. It’s not a particularly difficult circuit for the car or the driver, but aerodynamics are fundamental here. »

Karthikeyan, on his side, already knows what points he will work on with his engineers during the tests: « The straight line at the Shanghai circuit is obviously one of the longest on the calendar, and the first corner is a unique challenge because you enter it in 7th gear and exit in 2nd. There are also technical corners taken at low speed, and high-speed direction changes in corners 7 and 8. Given these multiple features, it’s a track that requires good traction, good aerodynamics, and stability during braking. »