27/05/2012
NEWS STORY
Bittersweet sensations once again for the team in the sixth race of the season which took place today. Narain Karthikeyan finished in 15th, achieving his and the team's best result of the season, at such a legendary event as the Monaco Grand Prix. Karthikeyan skilfully drove through the Principality's streets and, after a two-stop strategy, crossed the finish line with his F112. The sour note was Pedro de la Rosa who, despite completing three good practice sessions and an impeccable qualifying session, fell victim to the tricky Monaco circuit. The Spanish driver got hit from behind when trying to avoid a car that had crashed on the first lap of the race. The damage suffered to the rear wing was quite severe and de la Rosa was forced to retire.
With no time to lose, HRT Formula 1 Team will head to Madrid this very night to prepare all the material that will fly out to Canada in a couple of days for the seventh Grand Prix of the season which will take place in Montreal from the 8th to the 10th of June.
Pedro de la Rosa: "It was a terrible shame; I feel sorry for the team because yesterday we did a good job and today we were starting from an interesting position and I think we could have achieved a good result. Our one-stop strategy with softs first and super-softs second was good, you only have to see what Vettel did, so it was a shame not to have been able to complete more than 300 metres. It wasn't a mistake by me or the team, but one by another driver, but those things happen in races. One day it might happen to me too, the sad thing is that it happened precisely here after all the good work we'd done and how much I was looking forward to finishing in Monaco with a good result. I leave here a little bit sad because, although we wouldn't have scored a point, we could have at least finished with a good result."
Narain Karthikeyan: "It was a tough race because we were very limited on our tyres. We tried to keep a constant pace, stay out of trouble and finish the race; we knew that if we managed to do that we would be able to finish in a good position. 15th position is a good result and a good way of getting over the disappointment from Barcelona. Now what I need to do is work on putting together a good lap in qualifying as that has been my weakest point this season. Hopefully I'll be able to carry the momentum from here onto the next race in Canada and continue to progress."
Luis Perez-Sala, Team Principal: "We've got mixed feelings today. Pedro got hit from behind in the early stages, which was a real shame but, on the other hand, Narain completed a very good race and we achieved a 15th place finish, our best result this season so far. This race is always complicated and, given the forecast, we started with a strategy planned for a wet race. In the end it didn't rain and that cost us a couple of positions. But we're satisfied because we finished the race, with one car at least and only two laps off the winner, something which here in Monte Carlo is positive for us."
Check out our Grand Prix gallery, here.