HRT prepared for a tough race
The weather difference with respect to yesterday provoked a change in the performance of the car and the tyres, but Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan did well at the wheel of the F112 and improved their times in qualifying by almost a second to finish in 23rd and 24th position respectively.
The uncertainty surrounding the conditions in which tomorrow’s 70-lap race will take place means that the teams have various strategies prepared.
Pedro de la Rosa:
FP3: F112-02, #22, 23rd (20 laps) 1:26.785
Q: F112-02, #22, 23rd (9 laps) 1:25.916
"I think it was a good qualifying session. I’m happy because, step by step, we’re improving. Today we managed to get down to 1’25 and we overcame the heating issues with the tyres. We were able to push and, if we’re objective, this is our time. The Hungaroring is a circuit which I really like and it brings me good memories, but we have to be realistic and tomorrow’s race will be a tough one. It’s a similar circuit to Monaco so overtaking won’t be easy. We’ve got a good car, which is quite consistent with the tyres, and that’s the important thing. We must head into the race fully motivated and concentrated because it’s very long and physical for the driver because of the heat, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens”.
Narain Karthikeyan:
FP3: F112-03 #23 24th (26 laps) 1:26.898
Q: F112-03 #23 24th (11 laps) 1:26.178
"In the morning I managed to make the most of the entire session and run consistently. Given the high temperatures today, the car was overheating a bit, so we had to make some slight cut-outs on the bodywork and that made us lose some points of downforce. That cost us a couple of tenths. But we’ve made a big effort and I’ve got the satisfaction of having given everything I’ve got. There’s a lot of work to do ahead of tomorrow and it will be a tough race, but we’re prepared for the challenge”.
Toni Cuquerella, Technical Director:
"Since we weren’t able to do all the tyre tests we would have liked yesterday, we dedicated the free practice session to preparing the race, both in terms of set-up and tyre evaluation. In qualifying it is vital to do the lap in the tyre’s optimal moment, but here it’s more complicated because it’s one of the shortest circuits in the championship and the traffic is an added difficulty. But the driver’s did a great job. The result was what we expected and we’ve made progress with respect to the last two Grands Prix. As for tomorrow, it’s not 100% certain that the race will take place in dry conditions so we need to have different strategies prepared, which we will apply depending on the circumstances”.
