Friday: No cooling issues for HRT
Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan were delighted with their first day of testing in Bahrain. The F112 did not experience any issues, particularly with cooling, which had been a source of concern. They were therefore able to work on the planned program without encountering major problems.
Pedro de la Rosa – 23rd and 21st
We can say that we have achieved our objective for the day, which was to verify that the modifications made to the cooling of the car were working well. This reassures us because it means we can approach this weekend with confidence.
Putting that point aside, we experienced quite significant wear on the rear tires, but I think it’s an issue everyone encountered. It’s due to the heat and the characteristics of the track.
We tested the Soft and Medium tires, and for the long runs, we split the work with Narain, him on the Mediums and me on the Softs, to cover both options and see which is the best. We improved the car’s balance throughout the day, and I am happy with that, but tomorrow we should be able to fine-tune our setup a bit more.
Narain Karthikeyan – 24th and 22nd
«Today, we tried many things to save our tires because it’s very hot here and they degrade quickly. We worked on this objective during both practice sessions. Apart from working with the two Pirelli compounds, we covered many laps to see if the car was overheating, but it seems fine.
Tomorrow, we will have to make a few small changes to the single-seater for the race, and even if the weather conditions are extreme, it responded well today, and we hope to continue like this for the rest of the weekend.
