The HRT drivers, Pedro De La Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan, finished eighteenth and nineteenth in Italy but lamented a few issues. De La Rosa had troubles with the option tyre while Karthikeyan's race was compromised by contact at the first corner. "The start wasn’t easy but I did what I could because the medium tyres didn’t work well", said the Spaniard. "In the second half of the race, on hard tyres, I started to run well and I’m happy with our pitstop because it was […]

HRT driver Pedro de La Rosa was another driver frustrated by the wet weather, but tried to look for positives on a trying day. "I was surprised by the large amount of rain that poured down during both sessions. We anticipated the morning session to be less wet and that’s why we made the most of it to complete our only run. We only did a few laps mainly to confirm that the car and the systems worked well, so in the afternoon, with the […]

The Marussia F1 Team has confirmed that they will be using KERS for the first time in 2013. Pat Symonds, Marussia's technical consultant, also confirmed that the team will continue to use Cosworth engines. "We will continue with the Cosworth engine. We are happy with the work we are doing with them and I think that we are working together to try and improve the areas that we are able to under the regulations. We are concentrating on improving the driveability of the engine and […]

Ferrari, whose Fernando Alonso is leading the world championship, is also the team with the fastest pit crew so far in 2012. Germany's Auto Motor und Sport has found that the Italian squad's tyre-changing crew is on average a touch under two tenths faster than reigning champions Red Bull per pitstop. It is a remarkable turnaround for Maranello based Ferrari, who were reportedly in the pitstop "midfield" in the same mid-season ranking a year ago. In 2011, Mercedes' was the fastest pit crew, but now […]

HRT drivers Pedro de La Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan are eager to get back to racing after Formula One's lengthy summer break. Although HRT's drivers sit at the foot of the championship table, they are hopeful ahead of the second part of the 2012 campaign. "Spa is one of the drivers’ favourite tracks; it’s spectacular and difficult, not only because of the type of corners but also because of the weather, since one part of the track can be dry whilst another is wet, so […]

The former home of the French Grand Prix, Circuit de Magny Cours, is to host the second Young Driver test after next month's Italian Grand Prix. The circuit has not been used by Formula One since financial problems caused organisers to cancel the 2009 event. It is understood that Mercedes, Ferrari and Force India will use the venue from September 11th to 13th. The past two tests have taken place following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November, but several teams had voiced concerns about […]

Heikki Kovalainen has revealed he could have avoided racing straight to the back of the grid after losing his top McLaren seat at the end of 2009. In fact, the Finn signed on with the (then Lotus) Caterham team, whose only real opponents in the last three seasons have been the other 2010 startups Marussia and HRT. "I had other options, but not with any big teams -- teams that were in the middle of the pack," Kovalainen told Brazil's Totalrace. "I didn't see any […]

Narain Karthikeyan has pinpointed an improved performance on Saturday afternoons as the Formula One season recommences in Belgium in a couple of weeks' time. Karthikeyan has been beaten by HRT team mate Pedro de La Rosa in all eleven qualifying sessions so far and admits that he needs to up his game over one flying lap. "I think that my race performance has been very strong, with my 15th place in Monaco standing out, but in qualifying I’ve been a bit weaker", said the Indian […]

F1's three engine manufacturers for 2014 are hard at work on their new turbo V6 designs, Germany's Auto Motor und Sport reported. The publication said Craig Pollock's new venture Pure is no longer operating, while it is now common knowledge in the F1 paddock that HRT and Marussia supplier Cosworth is unlikely to still be on the grid for the radical new rules. That leaves just Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault, with Auto Motor und Sport saying the manufacturers are now "in phase two" of the […]

Martin Whitmarsh has revealed he is not surprised to hear about 2014 engine supplier Pure's problems. The McLaren boss and current FOTA chairman said he expects there to be just three engine manufacturers - Mercedes, Renault and Ferrari - supplying turbo V6 engines in 2014. There had already been doubts in the paddock that HRT and Marussia's V8 supplier, the British independent Cosworth, may not be in a position to supply engines in 2014 as per the radical new regulations. And it emerged recently that […]

Sebastien Buemi is confident he can return to the Formula One grid in 2013. After being dropped by Red Bull's driver development team Toro Rosso, the 23-year-old Swiss was signed for 2012 by the energy drink's premier championship winning team as its official reserve. "It's good," Buemi told the German language Swiss newspaper 20 Minuten. "Red Bull is the number one team in Formula One and I have a foot in the door. This is important if I want to return to the grid next […]

Martin Whitmarsh has flagged his intention to step down as president of the teams association FOTA. The union was created in the heat of the Max Mosley political war in 2008, with McLaren team boss Whitmarsh then taking over from FOTA's first chairman, Luca di Montezemolo, at the end of 2009. Since then, the group has fractured, with Ferrari, Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Sauber and HRT all no longer listed as members on the official FOTA website. And in a report by Dieter Rencken and […]