HRT F111

Eckhart von Glan · Feb 10, 2011

the final entry (splendid livery methinks):

James Chant · Feb 10, 2011

Looks like a mclaren crossed with a BAR Honda.

Ross Balfour · Feb 11, 2011

Nicest livery in the field, too bad we won't see it much without a blue flag being involved!

ufunacaoenn · Feb 11, 2011

Ross Balfour said:
Nicest livery in the field, too bad we won't see it much without a blue flag being involved!

The season has yet to start so there is no need for preconceived ideas. Who knows, HRT might have made a winner car just like Brawn GP did back at 2009 (Yea right like that would happen). But I am sure they will be alot faster then last year (when I say faster then I mean there overall gap to the fastest car) and probably stay at the pace of Toro Rosso.

Ross Balfour · Feb 11, 2011

Georgios Davakos said:
The season has yet to start so there is no need for preconceived ideas. Who knows, HRT might have made a winner car just like Brawn GP did back at 2009 (Yea right like that would happen). But I am sure they will be alot faster then last year (when I say faster then I mean there overall gap to the fastest car) and probably stay at the pace of Toro Rosso.

I bet my life that they won't score a point this season

Derek Day · Feb 14, 2011

Ross Balfour said:
I bet my life that they won't score a point this season

That's a bold bet, I would of mentioned score because of pace. If you think about Vettel having to start from 6th look out crash factor. Sutil....crash factor... Petrov crash factor.... Maldonado crash factor....... Perez crash factor....... d'Ambrosio crash factor....... Buemi crash factor....... Even Hamilton and Webber are likely to blow someones wheels off after wrecking there own set.:fwd2:

With all that liability around to take out guys trying to pass or even to stay on track. The odds of you jumping into a warm bath and slitting your wrist after a bottle of scotch is higher then you think lol...:sorry:

Only if they put a guy in there car who can drive, and judging by the empty billboard livery ad. They will pick up another driver with cash factor.

Looking at the fundamental aero design, I see potential in the engine cover area and mid line, rear part of the floor is hard to make out. Other then that they painted last years unfinished and rubbish Dallara bits "no joke". I really would like better pics of the total car they plan on running but know one does that.

So you should be safe Ross old boy,:wink: but history has had 10 cars only finish, and that's all they need for a point. :damnit:

You just added a whole other level of suspense. Can I be the official bookie for this bet, we could make crazy money

:signup: Im going bonkers! I cant wait for this season to start

Ross Balfour · Feb 14, 2011

Haha, I would love to see them score a point, I love it when underdogs do better than they should, but I predict Lotus will score 2 or 3 points this year, Virgin maybe 1, but even it's doubtful.. so for a team worse than that to score a point, for me it looks out of the question.
We'll see, I keep that bet on Derek and we'll see what happens

Chris Butcher · Feb 17, 2011

I expect photographic evidence when HRT score a point. I bet you 10p they do.

Ross Balfour · Feb 17, 2011

Chris Butcher said:
I bet you 10p they do.

Your on

David Chardar · Mar 2, 2011

Eh, so now we have a good looking mobile chicane instead of a dull looking mobile chicane.

I guess it's better than nothing. Oh wait, no. I'd rather see six less cars on the grids than theses accidents just waiting to happen.

Rhys Gardiner · Mar 2, 2011

That's right, criticize a team that's only in their 2nd year in the sport...

ufunacaoenn · Mar 2, 2011

I am sure there have been the same criticize for Red Bull and SPECIALLY Toro Rosso once they joined F1 and now look at Red Bull.

As Rhys said this slow teams need experience and time but I do belive that Lotus, Virgin and HRT have closed the gap to the rest of the field and might have a chans to fight for points if a few things go there way. (For example look at Renault at 2008 were Piquet took 3rd place after having a very unexpected pit stop strategy)

Adam Eggbeer · Mar 2, 2011

Georgios Davakos said:
I am sure there have been the same criticize for Red Bull and SPECIALLY Toro Rosso once they joined F1 and now look at Red Bull.

Red Bull took over Jaguar, who were already an established mid-field team. Jaguar took over from Stewart GP who had a very good 3 years in the sport, winning one race. Toro Rosso took over Minardi who had been in F1 for 20 years before that, and had the added support from Red Bull, so neither Red Bull nor Toro Rosso were new. The only team from the 00's that started from scratch and building their own car was Toyota and they did a good job of it. They were at least mid-field for the whole time they were in the sport and had their moments at the sharp end. Super Aguri were another team who started up in the 00's but they bought chassis from Honda so you can't compare them to Lotus, Virgin, and HRT.

What these three teams have done has been good. They have started off with nothing and managed to build a car in a short space of time and complete a whole season. They have now built or almost built their cars for their second season and they are a lot closer to the pack (well Lotus and Virgin are as HRT haven't used their new car yet). I would expect to see both Lotus and Virgin sneak a point or two this season but as for HRT, well we will have to see when their car is used for the first time.

Yann Laprevotte · Mar 2, 2011

David Chardar said:
I guess it's better than nothing. Oh wait, no. I'd rather see six less cars on the grids than theses accidents just waiting to happen.

When have you started following F1? I bet that if we could time travel a few people involved in the sport who died up to the 80s, they would really laugh hard at that *****ing involving backmarkers who for only crime are 4 seconds off the pace. Just check quali/pre-quali times from the past, it often used to be the double, the triple or even more for some. Some lapping situations used to be pretty much tough and it wasn't that rare to see a leader tangling with a backmarker(well, especially in the 80s, racing was too risky to do this kind of fantasy before), but very few people would say anything about that. Could you remind me when for the last time an incident of this kind happened? I fail to recall of any example more recent than the mid 2000s.

And how do you know that Virgin/Lotus are gonna be so much off the pace this year? It's a safe guess that HRT is gonne be at the back considering their ever lack of funds and their tight program... But I really can't see why you can say that for sure about Virgin and Lotus.

Last thing. If those three teams were so much off the pace last year, it's certainly not a proof of their uncompetence but a proof of the sometime disastrous management of this sport. Just remember that those teams signed-up with the promess of the 50 millions/year cap by Mosley. Also remember that Lotus was called in very last minute. Not to mention the endless technical regulation changes that advantage the ones with the biggest budgets.

Eckhart von Glan · Mar 3, 2011

nice post Yann, I think those of us a bit older really really miss the times of small players in formula one when the tight grip of marketing had not yet been established. There was pre-quali on Saturday morning and some teams never got beyond that but they still showed up. People ran cars that were two or even three years old and just slightly modified. All in all, the events were more vibrant than today's ultra-organized roadshows. same thing happened to rallying and to GT sports, only LeMans seems to have survived ... Oh, but I do sound 15 years older than I really am, lol.