Only one HRT at the finish as Karthikeyan crashes
Today’s Singapore Grand Prix didn’t disappoint as it once again proved to be an exciting affair. For HRT, Pedro De La Rosa ran 15th at one point in the race and eventually finished 17th. Narain Karthikeyan crashed out at about halfway of the total race.
Pedro de la Rosa had a notable performance and was in 15th at one stage but was unable to hold on after suffering a lot of degradation to the tyres in the last laps. The driver from Barcelona finished in 17th and equals his best result of the season. His teammate, Narain Karthikeyan, was also completing a consistent race until he lost control of his car and finished against the wall when the race had just reached the halfway mark.
Pedro de la Rosa, F112-02, #22, 17th:
"I’m satisfied with today’s race. The safety cars helped me out, but I must admit that the race dragged on a bit for me, and the last five laps never seemed to end because I had no tyres left and I started to lose ground on Glock and Pic and Kobayashi, Kovalainen and Hulkenberg, who were flying, passed me like nothing. Physically it was a tough race but I finished quite well. We did everything we could with what we had and I think that we managed the situations well. For us it wasn’t easy at all to finish the race and that is a victory in itself. Now it’s time for Suzuka, a circuit I love, which I know very well and where I hope to give everything once again”.
Narain Karthikeyan, F112-03, #23, DNF:
"It wasn’t my best race. From the beginning we had problems with heating and we lost a lot of time on straights, but we were managing it well until I went on the dirty part of the track and the car didn’t turn which resulted in me going into the wall. It’s further proof that there’s no room for error at street circuits. But I’ll keep my good qualifying session with me as that fills me with confidence ahead of the next Grand Prix. It was a shame not to finish it off with a good result in the race”.
Luis Pérez-Sala, Team Principal: "It was a tough race because we were on the limit and we had to control the temperature of the brakes and engine from the start. The drivers did a good job. It’s a shame that Narain crashed and had to retire. Pedro fought for 15th until the end but the high degradation of the tyres relegated him to 17th. However it was exciting to be right in the thick of things and we’re very happy about that. Now we go to Japan where we won’t suffer as much with the temperatures and we will have a better look at where we are to continue with our job and continue on this path”.
