HRT team to miss Mugello F1 test

CHENNAI: Formula One team Hispania Racing (HRT) is behind the clock, once again.After missingpre-season testing and then struggling through the first four races of the year,the team had a golden opportunity to get new updates for the cars and test themduring the mid-season tests which were scheduled at Mugello, Italy, from May 1to 3.But HRT will skip the tests as they failed to get the updatesready in time. The new updates, which could have ensured a better performancefrom the cars, will be available only just before the Spanish Grand Prix inBarcelona during the second week of May. Once again Narain Karthikeyan and hisSpanish teammate Pedro de la Rosa will have untested cars (updates) tohandle.Not an ideal situation for the experienced De la Rosa andNarain, who were hoping for competitive hardware once the European leg of theseason begins.In their three-season history in the top flight ofmotor racing, HRT have never made it to the pre-season tests and had sufferedthrough the season playing catch up. This season was no different and Narain andDe la Rosa were literally testing their new cars while the rest of the field waspushing up the order in Australia, Malaysia, China andBahrain.HRT’s official reason for skipping the mid-season testsession, which was brought back into the schedule again this year by the FIA, isintriguing to say the least. The team is shifting base to the new headquartersin Caja Magica, Madrid, and then concentrating its resources to "work thoroughlyon the car to prepare for the Spanish Grand Prix"."We won't have thenew upgrade package until then so we've preferred to focus on what cancontribute more to us, which is teamwork at the headquarters. And there is a lotto do," added team principal Luis Pérez-Sala.The teamprincipal perhaps forgot that teamwork should have happened earlier and updatesshould have been ideally ready in time for the tests. At least that's what theteam had planned on doing after missing the pre-season runs.Narain,on his part, is positive the updates which he and his teammate will get at theCircuit de Catalunya will be good enough to push their cars right up in the pacedepartment with their immediate rivals in the pecking order -Marussia-Cosworth."In the last race in Bahrain, we were behind(Timo) Glock (Marussia) by just 30 seconds. I'm sure the new updates willimprove our performance and we will be able to catch up even though the otherteams will also have updates of their own," said Narain.Apart fromupdated cars, the other teams will also have enjoyed miles of testing in themtoo. This means, the HRT boys will again be on square one in Barcelona on May13.