However, there is still one more unknown factor prior to the 2011 campaign, and that's related to Hispania's HRT F111 challenger. The car has never been tested going into next weekend's Australian Grand Prix and, should it fail to score some decent qualifying times, may not make the grid for the season opener.
In an effort to prevent too slower cars from making the grid in 2011 – like it happened last year – the FIA decided to bring back the 107 percent qualifying rule for the upcoming season of the series. What this means is that cars that are unable to score a time within 107 percent of the best time of the qualifying session will not be programed for the Sunday running.
Needless to say, the team everyone fears would be subject to that rule is HRT, whose drivers have yet to drive the 2011 challenger. However, based on the media photo shoot in Barcelona, where the car was revealed, plenty of similarities to its 2010 predecessor were noticed by the F1 pundits, leading many to believe that the new challenger will be just as slow as last year's.
“Based on the 107pc rule, we have to be within 5.8 seconds of the pole time in Melbourne, which I think we are pretty capable of doing,” tried to assure the fans Narain Karthikeyan, one of HRT's drivers for the 2011 campaign, according to the Hindustan Times.
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