Hispania set their sights on Virgin Racing
Karun Chandhok helped Hispania avoid a fourth consecutive double retirement for Hispania, but it was a frustrating weekend for the team in Canada.
Teammate Bruno Senna pulled out with gearbox failure after a mere 13 laps as the team’s frailties continue to stalk the Brazilian whilst another gearbox problem and subsequent change for Chandhok before qualifying ensured the Indian would never get off the back row.
However for the second race in a row the team managed to compete with fellow newcomers Virgin Racing. Senna managed to put Lucas Di Grassi on the back row again, beating his countryman by two tenths.
In the final classifications Chandhok managed to beat Di Grassi, with his fastest lap one tenth quicker, impressive after his lack of track time the day before and something he was very happy with.
“Obviously I didn’t drive at all yesterday and it was a good race under these circumstances. We were racing both Virgins and I was eight seconds ahead of Timo Glock even before he stopped in the end. I am quite pleased, at the end realistically we were only racing those three cars and we were ahead of them. The team did a great job today and the guys did good pit stops under pressure today.”
Despite reliability worries, the team has shown that it can compete with Virgin Racing and indeed beat them, with either driver. Team Principal Colin Kolles was pleased with Hispania’s step forward.
“Today, we really could race with other teams and were fighting hard for good positions with the other teams. We were on a two-stopp-strategy like the top six drivers. On one side it was a good race because we could beat Virgin on track. But on the other hand I think that we could have had a better result.”
Chandhok also had a key role in deciding the final order at the sharp end of the grid too, with Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari getting stuck behind the rookie allowing Jenson Button to complete a McLaren 1-2.
Considering the pace (or lack of in F1 terms) of the Hispania cars so far this season, it is perhaps surprising that it’s taken this long for one of the cars to have an impact on a race’s final result.
However the team will only be concerned on beating Virgin Racing. Valencia is next, and while it may not produce a race as exciting as Montreal, its layout gives Hispania hope for another weekend competing with the Virgin cars.
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