Valuable experience for Chandhok and Senna despite retirment
It was an eventful Monaco Grand Prix in which the drivers of the Spanish HRT F1 Team, Hispania Racing, Karun Chandhok and Bruno Senna gained valuable experience, if narrowly missing out on seeing the chequered flag. Both drivers had good starts and kept out of trouble driving consistent races and making good progress throughout the afternoon.
Bruno Senna was forced to retire on lap 58 with a hydraulic problem. Karun Chandhok’s hopes of seeing the chequered flag were lost when he was hit by Jarno Trulli on lap 70 at La Rascasse. The pair were battling for 14th position at the time.
Dr. Colin Kolles, team principal, commented: “As anticipated, it was a difficult race for us, but we all put in a great effort and came close to seeing both cars make the finish. Unfortunately, Bruno Senna retired with a hydraulic failure on lap 58 while Karun Chandhok walked away from an accident at the Rascasse corner.
"It was a real pity as it would have been possible to finish 13th by that point and was just four laps from the chequered flag. We are the best classified of the new teams. I am disappointed for the team that we narrowly didn’t finish our race and because the accident happened under blue flag. We look ahead to the next race and are determined to bounce back in different conditions. Both drivers did a very good job”.
Karun Chandhok commented: “I am extremely frustrated by the outcome of the race. Jarno hit me out of nowhere but he has apologized for the incident. We were looking good to finish in thirteenth position but we are still the best of the new teams. It has been my strongest race of the season. We had a good start and managed to jump both Di Grassi and Trulli during the pitstop. After that I was catching Senna until he retired, and was cruising to the end. This is a big disappointment for the whole team - as this would have classified us in tenth position. It is hard to take for the team and me, however we can be happy with our performance today”.
Bruno Senna commented: “The team made a good call for me to make a tyre stop on lap 2 under the safety car. It worked well and I had a great run through the race, pushing when I needed to and managing the tyres so that they would survive more or less an entire race distance. We could have finished 13th but instead, a hydraulic problem put me out a few laps before the end. None the less, I was really happy with my performance today and that of my team. We managed to punch above our weight today and we will try to continue that until we are able to upgrade our car”.
