Sunday, March 27, 2011

HRT tries to remain upbeat after Australian failure

HRT has tried to put on a collective brave face after it failed to qualify for the Australian Grand Prix with team boss Colin Kolles insisting it was a "miracle" it had even made it to Albert Park.

"In the end it just couldn't be, still I'm incredibly proud of my whole team," Kolles said. "Our drivers produced the maximum in the least amount of time possible. We managed to get both cars ready in time for qualifying and proved that the car is capable of running a lot quicker than today.

"The circumstances in which we arrived were not as desired. We created a miracle again, but it wasn't enough. We'll be back stronger than ever in Malaysia. There we will have more time to test the car and show where the F111 really belongs".

Tonio Liuzzi echoes those feelings. "Everybody did an amazing job," he said. "We have to be proud because everyone worked well and I think we have to be positive for the future. We are upset because we are not in the 107% but we are looking forward to Malaysia where we will be up to speed. We have to be happy with what we´ve done, the lap time was more than what we expected and we believe that our car will be much better in the future. It is true that everything was a little bit critical because we ended up not qualifying, but we just have to be proud of the job done by the team".

"We faced a lot of difficulties getting here and the effort put in by the whole team this week has been huge, but the rules are the rules."

Narain Karthikeyan, whose own weekend was even more depressing as he found himself almost a second and a half behind Liuzzi, added: "I've only done two timed laps with the new car before qualifying so, given the circumstances, it was quite an achievement. With an extra 24 hours we would have been in a better position. We just need to do some more running, so I think that come Malaysia we will be better prepared. Right now we need to stay positive."

© ESPN EMEA Ltd.

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