Unlike France, Germany, Italy and Britain, Spain has never been a powerhouse of Formula 1 talent – well, at least not until double champion Fernando Alonso came along.
Spanish racing fans seem to prefer motorcycles and rallying to Formula 1, which means that top-level Spanish teams are few and far between. Ex-grand prix racer Adrian Campos put together his GP2 Series outfit with the aim of being the first Spanish-based outfit to reach Formula 1.
He almost achieved his ambition, too, gaining one of the three ‘new-boy’ slots for 2010. But pre-season problems prompted a buy out by majority shareholder Jose Ramon Carabante, with Colin Kolles taking the role of team principal. While the other aspiring Formula 1 teams all designed and built their own car in-house, HRT contracted the services of Italian race constructor Dallara to build their Cosworth-powered chassis.
Despite Dallara’s experience, the late-arriving car struggled in its first year, and the fact that HRT’s two seats were shared by Karun Chandhok, Bruno Senna, Sakon Yamamoto and Christian Klein is as much an indicator of HRT’s financial problems as any of the drivers’ talents. The team’s aim will be to survive the first few races of 2011. Where it goes from there is anyone’s guess.
Pedro De La RosaNarain Karthikeyan