Colin Kolles had some pretty hefty excess baggage when he arrived in Kuala Lumpur this afternoon in the form of severel large cardboard boxes of bits for the HRT F111.
The largest contained several noses for the new car, which will be in use from Friday practice after the team successfully passed the FIA crash test this week.
The team had to use the old version in Melbourne, but Kolles admits that he doesn’t know what the new wing will be worth.
“In Australia we just did the roll-out in qualifing,” he told this blog as we waited at the baggage carousel. “The drivers were looking in their mirrors for quicker cars. But everything worked, including the moveable rear wing.”
HRT’s next target is to beat the 107% rule, having got within 1.7s of it after minimal running in Melbourne.
Adam Cooper F1 
No parts stuck in customs this time then!
I hope they get some solid running on the cars on Friday and Saturday. With a bit of help from the weather they could even get in the race. Or would those updates and some setupwork get them withing 107% of the Red Bulls?
To get to where they did in Melbourne in just 7 laps, never having turned a wheel was amazing. I hope the FIA present them with an award for the fastest series of installation laps in F1 history at season’s end. Having just read a history of the Williams team, perhaps in 35 years we’ll be looking back at HRT in the same way…
I agree its pretty amazing just to have the thing run thru practice and Q1 and not stop. Hoping they do make it in front of Virgin who seems to be a lot of talk and not much to show for it. Maybe if we look back at HRT and it is like Williams then Virgin can be Andrea Moda.
Second that one. The fans who lambaste the teams like HRT apparently forget the history of teams like Williams and McLaren, that have gone through same pains and shames growing up.
Alas in the age when everything in life is smart-phone app things are hard to appreciate how things were in the era when it was more of a sports and less of a commercial venture.
They have a great crew of people but I was perplexed when they didn’t show up at the final test with simple aero parts to run all the mechanical checks. This seemed such a no-brainer for a better start to the season compared to last year. I’ll still support their efforts and not take it too personally since it’s not my head on the block nor my cash. It’s apparent something good is coming from very little after their qualifying times. It’s equally clear that Virgin needs to rethink their approach. Maybe lease someone’s wind tunnel that isn’t being used because of the resource restriction agreement? Oh, HRT beat them to that idea as well… HRT have the spirit that kept Minardi going forever plus good brains, one decent driver and one great driver. However, following HRT is like watching daytime soaps. ¡ándale! or is it HRT vor!?
Call me a cynic, but I’m afraid I’m seeing the next Forti, rather than the next Williams. Getting to 107% is likely to be a miracle, and HRT were far slower than Virgin – Liuzzi 2.1s slower than d’Ambrosio, himself nearly 1s slower than Glock, and Karthikeyan 1.3s slower than Liuzzi.
Last year’s times were actually respectable: Senna was 106.79% of Vettel’s Q1 lap in Australia, and Chandhok 106.89%. In Bahrain it was 107.53% and 108.98%, with Chandhok again shaking down in Q1, doing 7 laps. This year, Liuzzi was 109.01% and Karthikeyan 110.55%. The team’s gone backwards.
Lotus comparison: BHR10 Kovalainen 104.97%, Trulli 104.57%; AUS10 KOV 104.75%, TRU 105.12%; AUS11 KOV 104.64%, TRU 104.74%, so a slight improvement perhaps?
Virgin: BHR10 GLO 104.46%, DIG 105.21%; AUS10 GLO 105.68%, DIG 106.38%; AUS11 GLO 105.35%, DAM 106.48%. Again, a mild improvement.
HRT and di Grassi were way outside 107% in Malaysia last year, but the weather was variable in Q1 and all three set times on a wet track, while Kovalainen and Trulli set times on a drying track and outqualified McLaren and Ferrari. Still, Lotus and Virgin were further away from the leaders than at any other of the first six venues, suggesting it was a more difficult track for them.
Best of luck to them. I’d like to see them get to race.