Hispania Will Beat Team Lotus, Virgin by May - Carabante

Like last year, the Formula 1 season start caught Hispania Racing F1 Team by surprise, as the Spanish squad failed to develop a competitive car for the season opening round. The only thing that changed was the introduction of the 107 percent qualifying rule in 2011, which kept the team out of the Melbourne grid due to their poor performances on Saturday.

However, that doesn't stop team owner Jose Ramon Carabante from dreaming that his squad will finally show its worth in the months to come.

“If we had the budget of the other teams, we would have come to the first race of the season with 3,000 kilometres under the belt,” said Carabante in an interview with Spanish radio Cadena Ser. “But like last year, we began the development of the car too late due to the budget. We were closing (sponsor) agreements that in the end did not come.”

In fact, Carabante insists that the very participation in Australia was a miracle to begin with, considering the struggles the organization had to go through this past winter. As their potential deal with Toyota was shortcut at the last moment, Hispania had to refocus on a brand new project for 2011 in only a few months, and the result – the HRT F111 – is not that bad.

“We did 11 laps with Liuzzi. If he had done 20, he would have qualified. Getting within 1.7 seconds without driving hardly at all is a miracle,” added the Spanish businessman.

In addition, Carabante revealed that the team is currently focusing on a brand new aerodynamic package for the Spanish Grand Prix, which is aimed at powering the HRT outfit past their rivals Virgin Racing and Team Lotus.

“It will be enough to be ahead of Lotus and Virgin,” said Carabante about the package that is scheduled to debut in May, for the Spanish Grand Prix. “Last year we were in a worse condition than now and we ended up ahead of Virgin with twice our budget, and behind Lotus due only to one accident.”