Pedro de la Rosa: I’m more than satisfied with the result

Pedro de la Rosa enjoyed a relatively successful 100th Grand Prix earlier today, even though he and his team-mate Narain Karthikeyan once again brought up the rear of the order. After starting the race from 23rd on the grid alongside the Force India of Nico Hulkenberg, de la Rosa was able to complete a one stop strategy to finish 18th.

Although the HRT duo ended the race one lap off the leader, the Spanish-outfit remain confident as they continue to improve as the season enters its closing stages. With HRT set to introduce several new upgrades to their F112 car at the next race in Singapore, they are confident a further step forward can be achieved. Narain Karthikeyan, who had not raced around the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza since his debut season back in 2005, finished the race in 19th position. The Indian driver out-qualified team-mate de la Rosa for the first time this season, however he was unable to translate such a result through to the race.

"I’m more than satisfied with the result, especially keeping in mind how we started the race.” Explained Pedro de la Rosa, “The start wasn’t easy but I did what I could because the medium tyres didn’t work well. In the second half of the race, on hard tyres, I started to run well and I’m happy with our pitstop because it was very good. I’m happy with this 100th Grand Prix although I would have liked to have done it better. We have to continue improving and in Singapore we hope for the planned upgrades to help us take that step forward.”

Luis Perez-Sala was content with his teams performance after the race, after a successful weekend which began by creating F1 history as the team allowed development driver Ma Qing Hua to drive during opening practice. The 24-year-old became the first Chinese-born driver to compete in an official F1 event, and coupled with de la Rosa’s 100th Grand Prix the team are confident the upgrades at Singapore next time out will be yet another boost for the Madrid-based outfit.

"I’m happy with how the race went; we experienced no problems and the car proved its good reliability.” Said HRT’s team principal, Luis Perez-Sala. “We’ve closed the gap to the head of the field at a circuit that we knew would benefit us. Overall it’s been a positive weekend with Ma’s debut and Pedro’s 100th Grand Prix, and now we’re looking forward to Singapore, where I hope we will be able to continue progressing.”

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