Santander-HRT F1 Report a Hoax

Just when we got our hopes up regarding the financial rescue of Hispania Racing F1 Team, the website responsible with the positive report in the first place came to deny the whole story today. No, the Spanish team was not partially purchased by banking giant Grupo Santander, as initially revealed by a Spanish website.

The aforementioned source came to confirm the whole report was a hoax earlier today. And the explanation is very simple. As the majority of nations in the world use April 1 for pranks and jokes of all kinds (we all know how April Fools' Day is), Spain has a similar holiday known as 'Day of the Innocents', celebrated on December 28.

Needless to say, the report about the Santander-Hispania deal was posted on the website late yesterday. Some question marks were raised from the get go however, as neither of the two parties confirmed or denied the story in the local media.

“Today we can assure you that the purchase of Hispania by Banco Santander is not real,” read the new report from the website.

This is not the first hoax of this kind issued by the website in question, as last year's joke was centered on Nelsinho Piquet and Campos Grand Prix. Back then, the report stated that the former Renault racer, who made an ugly F1 exit with the crash-gate and all, had decided to return to the series and was signed by the Spanish squad.

In related news, it seems that HRT F1 is still looking for sponsors and will unlikely bring their 2011-spec car to Valencia in early February, as the new chassis will not be ready by that date.