Hispania happy with troublefree Friday
Formula 1 is back at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve after a break in 2009. The day started off cloudy, but it got sunny in the afternoon with air temperatures rising up to 22°C and track temperatures up to 26°C. Hispania Racing, HRT F1 Team completed 115 laps at its and both drivers’ debut in Montréal.
In the morning, Karun Chandhok was 20th with a lap time of 1.21.977. His teammate Bruno Senna ended up on position 22 (1.22.701). After a trouble-free first session, in the second ninety minutes everything worked well again for the Spanish team. Karun Chandhok (20th, 1.20.879) managed to do 29 more laps while Bruno Senna added a further 31 laps to the team’s tally. It was the best performance for both Hispania drivers on Friday sessions so far.
Dr Colin Kolles, Team Principal:
“It was a good first day for our team in Canada. As expected, the track had a poor grip level in the beginning. Many drivers had to struggle with that and went off the line. Like the other teams, we were fighting with graining on the rear tyres. But we could run a lot today and our drivers got quicker with every lap they did. We could get a lot of information out of the sessions and our drivers got as much track time as possible.”
Karun Chandhok, Race driver #20:
FP1: F110-01 #20 20th (27 laps) 1.21.977
FP2: F110-01 #20 20th (29 laps) 1.20.879
“I am very pleased with my first day here at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The track is still very green but our pace relative to the other new teams has been more competitive than at any other time this season. There is a lot of tyre graining so we didn't really push for the ultimate lap time in the afternoon but just spent time trying to understand the tyre wear for the rest of the weekend. The delta time difference to the established teams also seems to be closer than we have seen so far this year so hopefully we can carry on this form into tomorrow and Sunday.”
Bruno Senna, Race driver #21:
FP1: F110-02 #21 22nd (28 laps) 1.22.701
FP2: F110-02 #21 21st (31 laps) 1.21.097
“It was a tough first session as it was the greenest track we drove so far this year. It was very dirty and there was a very poor grip level. During the morning session and also in the afternoon, the track conditions changed a lot. We could do 59 laps today which was good for me because I could learn the track very well with this. All in all, it was a successful day for us and we are looking forward to qualifying tomorrow.”
