12/03/2010
NEWS STORY
HRT F1 Team has made history and successfully completed its first laps and roll out on its debut at the Bahrain Grand Prix during the first practice session. In the second practice session the Brazilian covered 17 laps with a fastest time of 2.06.968 before losing a wheel nut on the way back to the pits, after the chequered flag had dropped.
Despite the lack of pre-season testing, the team successfully fired up Bruno Senna's car (nr 21) and he completed three installation laps in the morning free practice session and 17 laps in the second session. The fire up for Karun Chandhok's car happened towards the end of the first free practice session.
Despite running 17 laps with Bruno Senna, the Indian driver's car did not roll out during the two first free practice sessions in order to prepare for a successful weekend in Bahrain. It will be in action tomorrow.
Dr Colin Kolles: "I am proud that our mechanics and engineers managed to make history today in Bahrain. Everything is going to plan, except the lack of sleep for all of us who worked through the night! To make history is not a simple task. The focus today for the team was to be operational and run. We are taking things one step at a time, and building on our competitiveness as the weekend and season goes on. Everyone has produced an amazing effort to make it happen and I would like to thank everyone for their dedication."
Bruno Senna: "It was certainly a relief to make history this morning. The car ran as planned and everyone is happy and proud. There is still a lot of work ahead of us. Three laps this morning and seventeen this afternoon is a great start. Of course, we could not try the car at its limits. I am confident that we will be working ahead and I want to congratulate my mechanics, engineers and the whole team for their incredible hard work."
Karun Chandhok: "My car was fired up this morning. I was hoping that it would be in condition to run fully a bit later than my team mate's. We know that all systems are working and with the third free practice still ahead of us we can still look positively at the start of our first weekend of racing."