Karthikeyan not certain to do the whole season
Narain Karthikeyan was recently confirmed as a main driver for the HRT team for the 2012 season. However, the team director stated that even though the Indian driver would start the season, he will need to achieve sufficient results if he wishes to keep his seat.
Narain Karthikeyan made his return to F1 at the beginning of 2011 after a five-year absence. He only raced during nine race weekends, giving up his seat to Daniel Ricciardo the rest of the time. However, he was confirmed by the HRT team as a regular driver for the 2012 season alongside Pedro de la Rosa.
But the director of the Spanish team, Luis Perez Sala, recently stated that the Indian driver should compete in all 20 Grand Prix races of the season, even though it is not yet 100% confirmed.
« For the moment, the idea is to have him race the whole season, but you can’t take anything for granted, you have to work to keep your place at each race. But as it stands, Karthikeyan and Pedro will race the entire season, » Luis Perez Sala told the news agency IANS.
Luis Perez Sala also commented on the F112’s failure in the mandatory FIA crash tests, which forced the team to announce that it would not be present in Barcelona from February 21 to 24. He explained that the change in ownership and management had disrupted the schedule, but things should be back on track during the season.
« We have a new single-seater and a new team. This means that, to begin with, we will be a bit behind. But we believe that sometimes, to improve, you must first take a step back, so we have taken a step back to take two steps forward. Our goal is to grow little by little during the season.»
“If we can stay ahead of Marussia, we will be happy, and if we can get closer to Caterham, then we will be delighted, but our first objective is to set up our entire structure, improve reliability, and make progress as the season goes on,” added Luis Perez Sala.
