Circuito de Jerez, Jerez de la Frontera Wednesday the 8th of February 2012 Weather: Sunny - air 12°C, track 18°C Circuit length: 4.423 kmP Pedro de la Rosa  F111-002 #23 12th 1’22.128 Second day of pre-season testing in Jerez HRT Formula 1 Team continued today in Jerez with its programme in the second and final day of testing that the team had scheduled for these first official pre-season tests. Pedro de la Rosa was in the cockpit of the F111 and completed a total of […]

Fingers are being crossed at HRT as its 2012 car undergoes the FIA's mandatory crash tests. Most of the Spanish team's rivals have already begun testing their new single seaters. But at Jerez on Tuesday, Pedro de la Rosa was driving HRT's 2011 machine, painted all white. He told Marca sports newspaper that news should emerge on Wednesday about the outcome of the 2012 car's crash testing. "If it passes, we will have the car at the next test in Barcelona," said de la Rosa. […]

Circuito de Jerez, Jerez de la Frontera Tuesday the 7th of February 2012 Weather: Sunny – air 19°C, track 27°C Circuit length: 4.423 km Pedro de la Rosa  F111-002 #23 12th 1’23.676 First day of pre-season testing in Jerez The Winter break has been a short one and, after only two months, a renewed HRT F1 Team returned to action today for the first Formula 1 pre-season tests being held at the Circuito de Jerez, with Pedro de la Rosa as the only driver at […]

After months of waiting, the scream of a naturally aspirated 2.4 litre V8 engine roars back into action and the teams get back to business. They have been developing the new cars for months now and finally get to put them through their paces. Kimi Raikkonen sets the pace for the morning session with a 1:19.670 with over 50 laps done with the young British driver Paul di Resta in the VJMO5 just a tenth behind with a 1:19:772. Eleven out of the twelve teams […]

Amid the European cold snap, Franz Tost admits he was worried Toro Rosso might be late for its own car launch. The STR7 was unveiled on Monday in the Jerez pitlane, a day ahead of its testing debut. "When the trucks left Faenza on Saturday night I was worried we would not arrive in time," La Gazzetta dello Sport quotes the relieved team boss as saying. Ultimately, it turned out well, although Daniel Ricciardo - one of Toro Rosso's new Red Bull-backed rookies - was […]

Jaime Alguersuari has announced he will be absent from the Formula One paddock in 2012. After two and a half seasons and at just 21-years-old, the Spaniard has lost his Toro Rosso race seat. And the final spot on the 2012 grid, at the Spanish team HRT, has been secured by Narain Karthikeyan. There has been speculation Toro Rosso sponsor Cepsa was unhappy with Red Bull's decision to dump Alguersuari, but the Faenza based team announced that the Spanish oil company is staying on board […]

Narain Karthikeyan speaks about his return to F1 with HRT

Narain Karthikeyan has been confirmed as HRT's second driver

Caterham enters the 2012 season with a simple goal -- a point. In its first two seasons, then known as Lotus, the Tony Fernandes-led squad proved the best of the other new-in-2010 startups including Virgin (now Marussia) and HRT. But a green-coloured car is still yet to score a point. "That must be the goal (for 2012), but we are also realistic," Malaysian Fernandes told Brazil's Corride de Formula 1. "We want to take steps forward in the right direction towards building long-term success. But […]

Toro Rosso's new drivers have admitted a seat at senior team Red Bull Racing is an obvious target for the future. Mark Webber's contract expires at the end of this season. For 2012, Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne have replaced Red Bull rookie team Toro Rosso's former lineup of Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari. "Of course I'd be happy to drive for Red Bull -- that's the big goal of all the Red Bull juniors. "If we do everything right and we get the right […]

Vitaly Petrov is promising news about his future "very soon". Caterham's Jarno Trulli last week played down rumours the well-sponsored Russian Petrov, a refugee of the former Renault (now Lotus) team, could be set to replace him. "Very soon is all I can say," Petrov answered his Twitter followers when asked when official news about his plans for 2012 can be expected. "My friends, be patient," he added in Russian. Meanwhile, Finland's Turun Sanomat said it has not yet been decided if Trulli or his […]

Caterham could beat the entire F1 field to the starting line ahead of the 2012 season. Italy's Autosprint said it believes the former Lotus team's new single seater - to be called the CT01 and believed to have passed the FIA's crash tests - could be unveiled "at the end of January". That would be even earlier than some other teams intend to launch their cars, ahead of the start of the official test season at Jerez on 7 February. Germany's Auto Motor und Sport, […]