Narain Karthikeyan impressed with HRT’s improvements

HRT’s Narain Karthikeyan has stated how he is impressed with how the team have improved since the season opening Australian Grand Prix, where the Spanish-outfit failed to qualify within the 107% rule. Since then, the team have consistently finished with both cars crossing the line five times and have continued to gradually improve in pace.

With HRT undergoing a radical revamp throughout the winter period, the team were once again struggling once pre-season testing began at Jerez. Whereas the accomplished teams such as Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull had begun testing their new 2012 machinery, HRT were struggling to pass the stringent mandatory FIA crash tests.

Originally HRT were scheduled to make their 2012 pre-season testing debut at the second Barcelona test, however with the F112 struggling to pass the mandatory FIA crash test, this was delayed until after the official test. As the rest of the field, except Marussia, headed to Australia HRT were frantically shaking down their 2012 car as well as preparing for the season opener.

Since those dark and miserable days, HRT have continued to improve in leaps and bounds as the season has progressed. Although the team have yet to score their first World Championship points, they have unquestionably shown superlative consistency at the back of the pack. Narain Karthikeyan for one has been impressed by the teams improvements, as they continued to reel in rivals Marussia.

“I think we’ve come a long way since Australia and the team has a permanent facility now and the factory is very impressive.” Explained Narain Karthikeyan, “Everything has come under one roof. There’s a design office, we’re hiring a lot of people and the car is getting slightly better. It’s a positive step and hopefully this will continue throughout the season. We have some upgrades coming during the holidays and hopefully we’ll start using them soon and close the gap. The car at the moment is similar to the Marussia, but we can improve still a little bit and that’s what we are planning to do.”

Narain Karthikeyan’s highest finishing position so far this season came at the European Grand Prix, when the Indian driver finished 18th. The last time Karthikeyan drove around the Hungaroring was back in 2005 with Jordan during his debut year, and he’ll undoubtedly be itching to jump into the car during practice two tomorrow afternoon to relearn the tricky circuit.

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