Smooth first practices for HRT
Karun Chandhok completed 20 laps in the morning session, for a best lap time of 1.43.949 while Bruno Senna ran 23 laps with a best time of 1.43.875 In the second ninety minutes afternoon free practice session, in preparation of the Sunday race and its 56 laps, the track remained dry and temperatures raised to 17°C.
The two cars managed to work smoothly over the two sessions which is very positive ahead of a technical race this week-end and covered a distance of 32 additional laps each.
Today, the HRT F1 Team continued its development program at only the fourth Grand Prix of its history with no pre-season testing for Karun Chandhok and Bruno Senna.
Dr. Colin Kolles: “Both Karun and Bruno have put as many miles as we could on the car. With their engineers, they covered the testing program and drove good laps. We used the second session to test a number of final details in order to improve the car's performance. The practice sessions were positive for the team in view of the qualifying session. We need to continue to improve the car. But I am pleased to see the team pushing so hard even if it is a steep learning curve.”
Karun Chandhok: “It was a good practice. We could learn things about the circuit and we got the base line. Unfortunately, we noticed a lot of graining on the front tyres. The second practice was useful for us as I could cover 52 laps today and some long runs.
Bruno Senna: “The first practice session was okay. We had no problems. Although we are a bit struggling with the air temperature here as it was not very warm. We experienced therefore a low grip level and we have to work on this despite a dusty track. The second session was a good practice again. We fulfilled our program without any problems. We are looking forward to the qualifying tomorrow.”
Source: HRT F1
