HRT wary of cooling issues ahead of Bahrain Grand Prix

With barely enough time to catch your breath after the Chinese Grand Prix, the teams’ are now frantically preparing for this weekends Bahrain Grand Prix at the Sakhir International Circuit. HRT have had a successful last two Grands Prix in Malaysian and China, successfully finishing both races albeit a lap or two off the pace.

However, heading into Bahrain the Spanish outfit are now wary of the cooling issues that are still plaguing the team. In Malaysia, the rain prevented the gremlins from recurring, and the temperature in China wasn’t high enough to worry the team. However, in Bahrain the heat and lack of rain could well prove tricky for HRT.

"This Grand Prix will take place in very different conditions,” Explained Team Principal, Luis Perez-Sala, “Although we could say that we’ve made up for the lack of pre-season and are now at the starting point, our biggest weakness is still cooling. Here that is a key factor but I’m confident we can continue along the same line as in the last races and will be able to progress a little bit more this weekend.”

Pedro de la Rosa is highly confident heading to the weekends race, after having made his McLaren debut at the track back in 2005. The Spaniard went on to finish 5th in that race, setting the fastest lap along the way. However, de la Rosa also believes it is important that the team continue their improvements into the Bahrain Grand Prix.

"The Bahrain International Circuit is a difficult track because it has strong braking corners and it’s very easy to overrun coming into them.” Said Pedro de la Rosa, “It’s a circuit I like because I made my debut for McLaren there, so I’ve got good memories of it, I also achieved my first fastest lap in a race there too. In Bahrain the objective is to continue the improvement which we clearly saw in China, where we took a big step. Now we must maintain our reliability but in a hotter climate, we have to try and take the same step that we took in China.”

HRT will be looking to once again finish the 57-lap race, and continue reeling in the likes of Marussia and Caterham further up the order. However with the hot temperatures in Bahrain, the cooling issues could well continue to plague the team throughout the weekend.

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