HRT F1 to Begin 2011 Testing with 2010 Car

Hispania Racing F1 Team will indeed make it to the first test of 2011, due to be held on Valencia's Ricardo Tormo circuit between February 1-3, yet the car to be tested will not be the 2011-spec one. According to El Mundo Deportivo newspaper, the team will bring to Valencia its 2010 challenger instead, as the new racer for the upcoming campaign will not be completed in time.

Despite their 2010 experience – when they came to the season opening Bahrain GP with only a few miles of prior testing – HRT F1 were unable to correctly project the development of their 2011 car. And that's because several factors contributed to this state of events, including the split with former chassis partner Dallara and the failed partnership with Toyota Motorsport GmbH.

As revealed recently by team owner Jose Ramon Carabante, the 2011 chassis is currently in the development phase and is worked upon and designed by Geoff Willis “partly in Germany and partly in England and it will be ready.”

Consequently, the miles at Valencia will count for little or nothing as far as HRT F1 is concerned, the only good thing from it being the evaluation of potential drivers for the team in 2011. In fact, the Spanish newspaper reported that “the main reason HRT will not have its 2011 car at Cheste is because the team wants to evaluate a range of potential race drivers for next season.”

In the meantime, some reports in Spain have hinted that Santander purchased 40 percent of the team and the deal is to be officially announced in due time. A few hours later however, the publication that issued the report confirmed the news was a hoax, as it was published on December 28, a Spanish holiday known as 'Day of the Innocents', which is similar to April Fools' Day.