HRT (almost) officially pronounced dead.

[Matthew327]

Rumor has it that neither Carlos Slim nor the expected Chinese investors are willing to buy out HRT, leaving the team insolvent and dismissing all their staff members apart from the crew currently present in Austin.

After three absolutely unsuccessful years, it seems that HRT have to face the sad and bitter truth and end their presence in Formula 1.

It is said that Bernard, Lord of Ecclestone, is already negotiating with several people possibly interested in joining Formula 1. Said to be among them are also Eddie Jordan and Alain Prost, both former team founders.

If it were to you, which Team from F1 history would you revive?

 

[Dmitry Zaharov]

Bad news. I loved moment when Karthikeyan ran as high as 8th in Malaysia under safety car.

 

[ufunacaoenn]

I wish that HRT would stay in F1 since they have shown a constant pace of improvement from season to season and this year from race to race.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Hope someone buys the team... Or, the spot in F1. It isn't much of a team to buy. 40-50 employees, an old car and... that's it. If someone is going to buy it. They need to do it now to be able to make a 2013 car!

I really want as many cars a possible on the track

 

[David O'Reilly]

Its a shame that without 200 million dollars per year one can't run a competitve F1 team.
The minnows come and go and its always sad.
Each strategy to lower costs eg limit on engines/ gearboxes/ rev limits just end up diverting the surplus 100 million into an unlimited ungoverned development area such as aero developments where bang for buck is lower so only the top teams can play.

In my view Eddie Jordan is too clever to invest. He has seen it, done it and just managed to keep his shirt and get out whole.

My guess is that the next owner will be from the Middle East.

 

[Matthew327]

In my view Eddie Jordan is too clever to invest. He has seen it, done it and just managed to keep his shirt and get out whole.

My guess is that the next owner will be from the Middle East.

Well I do agree that Eddie Jordan is too clever to invest; but he has run his team relatively successfully throughout the late 1990's and would (more than Alain Prost) be an interesting name if you were looking for a CEO for your team.

I do also agree that the next owner might be from middle east - Dubai Racing, maybe?

 

[David O'Reilly]

Well I do agree that Eddie Jordan is too clever to invest; but he has run his team relatively successfully throughout the late 1990's and would (more than Alain Prost) be an interesting name if you were looking for a CEO for your team.

I do also agree that the next owner might be from middle east - Dubai Racing, maybe?

Yes If I had 500m to drop into F1 over 3-5 years I would def consider Eddie as Team Principal. He has all the skills.

 

[Matthew327]

Well, since you said "if I had", I suppose you're not going to be HRT's next owner.

 

[Jordi Casademunt]

If you want to make smaller teams competitive, get rid of overly complicated front wings. There, development costs have been halved, have fun.

It's a shame that HRT ends like this, but they don't have any big money backing them, so it was a matter of time I guess.

 

[Matthew327]

On the other hand, there are other "small" teams like Sauber who have - though ever-struggling - established over the years; and they did so in times where you could simply take your car out on track and test it rather than simulating how it might react to certain circumstances.

Does that mean that in times where testing was not limited it was easier for not so wealthy teams to develop their parts? I don't think so.

Economically seen, it's just tough times at the moment, and if there's a country where there definitely isn't money to throw away (for example in Formula 1), it's Spain (and Greece).

So after all, I think we shouldn't be surprised about the predictable end of the Hispania Racing Team - we should rather be wondering about what might come after it.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Eddie Jordan

Now that would be cool to have him back as teamboss

I won't miss HRT for a second to be honest.

 

[David O'Reilly]

His autobiography "An independent Man" is a great read and a real education on the behind the scenes of his era.

 

[Terry Rock]

It's really sad how the money is dispensed in F1. The teams who already have the most money, get massive sums for constructor points...while the small 'floundering' teams get almost nothing. In not having the resources to develop the car and score points, they'll never correct this situation, it's a wonder any of the small teams can survive more than two years. It's a recipe for disaster where the lower teams are concerned. In my opinion, we need all the F1 teams. The boycotted race at Indianapolis a few years back proved that. There needs to be a more equitable way of handing out the basic funding...minus the winning purse of course. It's silly to give Ferrari or McLaren that much money above and beyond the lower teams and think there could ever be direct competition. It just doesn't work that way.

 

[Steve Sachse]

They need to inherit the draft pick system. HRT gets the first pick overall. Yeah, when it all comes down to funding, I think it's tough to sort it all out. I would love to see some measure put into place that helps out the lower half of the field.

 

[Alexander Macdonald]

HRT weren't really living to begin with...

 

[Markus Neumann]

It's really sad how the money is dispensed in F1. The teams who already have the most money, get massive sums for constructor points...while the small 'floundering' teams get almost nothing. In not having the resources to develop the car and score points, they'll never correct this situation, it's a wonder any of the small teams can survive more than two years. It's a recipe for disaster where the lower teams are concerned. In my opinion, we need all the F1 teams. The boycotted race at Indianapolis a few years back proved that. There needs to be a more equitable way of handing out the basic funding...minus the winning purse of course. It's silly to give Ferrari or McLaren that much money above and beyond the lower teams and think there could ever be direct competition. It just doesn't work that way.

Your last sentence is a perfect response to everything else you wrote.

Also: they're not dead yet.

 

[Tony Holder]

Race Department F1 team...lets dig deep and buy HRT!

 

[Calum McLure]

Race Department F1 team...lets dig deep and buy HRT!

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