Hispania Racing F1 Team, officially known as HRT F1 Team, is the first Spanish F1 team. The team debuted in 2010 and struggled for pace and reliability failing to score any points and finishing in eleventh place of twelve competing teams. The driver line up changed mid season but the results did not improve. Financial difficulties surrounded the team throughout 2010 and persist in the off-season.
Hispania Facts and Stats
| Base: | Murcia, Spain. |
| Team Principal: | Colin Kolles |
| Drivers: | Narain Karthikeyan (No. 22) |
| Vitantonio Liuzzi (No. 23) | |
| Chassis: | Hispania F111 |
| Engine: | Cosworth |
| Tyres: | Pirelli |
| First Season: | 2010 |
| Constructors' Championships: | 0 |
| Drivers' Championships: | 0 |
| Race Victories: | 0 |
| Pole Positions: | 0 |
| Fastest Laps: | 0 |
The Hispania team was originally called Compos Meta, a result of collaboration between Compos Racing and Meta Image, and it was this entity that gained permission from the FIA to race in the 2010 season. The team were beset with financial difficulties and as a result, they were struggling to pay the developers of the car Dallara. Speculation was rife that the team would fail to make the grid.
In mid February 2010, the majority shareholder, Jose Romon Carabante, took over full control of the company, the team was rebranded to Hispania Racing F1 Team (HRT), the HQ moved to Murcia. The team announced their two drivers, Bruno Senna, nephew of the late triple world champion Ayrton Senna and the Indian driver Karun Chandhok. The car was powered by Cosworth and designed by Dallara.
The team missed all 2010 pre-season testing, and consequently both drivers' first opportunity to drive the car was the season opening GP in Bahrain. Senna's car was available for the free practice session, and in the second session, the gulf of performance became apparent, his best time was 11 seconds off the pace, and he spun off because the pit crew had not secured one of the cars wheels properly. The dismal performance was out done by Chandhok's car because the mechanics could not get his car on track until the qualifying session. Qualifying was terrible, Senna more than eight seconds off the pace and Chandhok almost ten seconds behind. The race was little better; Chandhok crashing and retiring on the second lap and Senna retiring on lap 18 with an overheating engine.
Remarkably, Chandhok did finish the next race, the Australian GP, however, he was last of the runners and was five laps down.
The three 'new teams', Hispania, Virgin and Lotus were terrible throughout the season, Virgin were worse than both the others and Lotus just marginally better than Hispania. For the fans it was staggering to witness the performance gap, and many suggested that the three teams should be excluded from racing unless they could qualify in a time that suggested they were in the same race as the other teams.
Hispania made several driver changes; Sakon Yamamoto replaced Senna for the British GP, Chandhok's last drive for the team was the British GP (race 10), he was replaced by Sakon, who in turn was substituted by Christian Klien for three races.
F1 is a very tough sport, the technical brilliance required is staggering and the financial resources immense, nevertheless, Hispania's performance was very poor and it surprised few when rumours of financial difficulties surfaced again in the off-season.
The team has a new driving team for 2011, the Indian driver, F1 rookie, Narain Karthikeyan and the considerably more experienced Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi. Few sponsors will be attracted to the notion of supporting a team that lack an aura of success or glamour. Hispania in 2010 lacked both, in 2011 they must at least demonstrate they can finish a race on the same lap as the winners, or it seems likely that the Spanish team will be forced out either due to regulations or lack of funds.
