Team Season Review: HRT

HRT were still the slowest team but they only failed to qualify once.

Drivers: Narain Karthikeyan, Tonio Liuzzi, Daniel Ricciardo
Best Finish: 13th (Canada)
Best Qualifying Result: 21st (Turkey, Spain, Canada, India, Abu Dhabi, Brazil)
Points: 0
Constructor's Championship: 11th
GRADE: E-

Despite beating Virgin to eleventh place again in the standings, Hispania endured another very hard year, and they were arguably more off the pace than in 2010. HRT were humiliated as both Tonio Liuzzi and Narain Karthikeyan failed to qualify in Australia, not making 107% of the pole position time, therefore not being allowed to start. BBC F1 commentator said "I hope the HRT's are faster than they were this morning, because 'moving chicane' doesn't even cover it. Put it this way, they won't be getting fined for speeding down the pit lane any time soon." However, their season soon improved, and they often beat Virgin, while qualifying for every race from there on. Their best race was Canada, where Liuzzi finished a fantastic thirteenth for the Spanish team. At Silverstone, they replaced Karthikeyan with young Aussie Daniel Ricciardp, who did a good job.


NARAIN KARTHIKEYAN
Best Finish: 17th (Monaco, Canada, India)
Points: 0
Driver's Championship: 26th
GRADE: F-


Karthikeyan in action at China



We were all really surprised when HRT announced they had signed Narain Karthikeyan for their second season. He hadn't raced in 2005, and this showed early in the season. However, at Monaco, Karthikeyan took 17th, his best finish up until that point. However, at Canada, in the extremely wet conditions, he came home 14^th, but was handed a time penalty for corner cutting. He was replaced after the European Grand Prix, in which he finished 24th, by Daniel Ricciardo, but returned for his home race, the inaugural Indian Grand Prix, where he qualified a strong 22nd, and finished a positive 17th in a good home weekend. He got three 17^ths, and only failed to qualify once, in Australia. Despite this, Karthikeyan was very poor, and it is extremely unlikely that he will get a F1 drive in 2012.

TONIO LIUZZI

Best Finish: 13th (Canada)

Points: 0

Driver's Championship: 23rd

GRADE: D-





Liuzzi on his way to 21st at Korea

After leaving Force India, Liuzzi was considered as a possible replacement for the injured Robert Kubica at Renault, but they signed German Nick Heidfeld instead. Liuzzi was announced as Hispania’s second driver after the pre-season test at Catalunya. He, along with team mate Karthikeyan, failed to qualify in Australia, before retiring in Malaysia due to safety reasons. Despite crashing heavily in Free Practice, Liuzzi finished a strong sixteenth in Monaco. However, he recorded Hispania’s best ever result with a thirteenth place finish at the wet Canadian Grand Prix. He took an 18th place at Silverstone, where his new team mate Daniel Ricciardo was announced, before retiring at Monza after a heavy collision on the first lap with Nico Rosberg and Vitaly Petrov. He was beaten by Ricciardo in the next three races, but wasn’t chosen to race at India, before finishing 20th in Abu Dhabi, and retiring in Brazil. Liuzzi regularly beat Karthikeyan, and often got on top of highly rated team mate Daniel Ricciardo.

DANIEL RICCIARDO

Best Finish: 18th (Hungary, India)

Points: 0

Driver's Championship: 27th

GRADE: C-



Ricciardo at the Indian Grand Prix



After performing well in many practice sessions for Toro Rosso, as well as topping all three days of the 2010 Young Drivers' Test, young Australian Daniel Ricciardo was signed up by Hispania to replace Narain Karthikeyan, at Silverstone. After finishing last on his debut, he began to improve, and sometimes had the pace to beat Liuzzi. He finished eighteenth twice, first at Hungary, and then at India, where the Hispania car was at its best through the season. He was expected to be replaced by home man Karthikeyan for the inaugural Indian race, but Hispania were impressed by Ricciardo, and kept him and chose Liuzzi to stand down for the race. Ricciardo also got four nineteenth places, and never failed to qualify. He is tipped for hot things in the future, with Toro Rosso a likely option in 2012.

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