Pedro de la Rosa retired with throttle pedal issues

Pedro de la Rosa’s Korean Grand Prix lasted only 17 laps, before the Spanish outfit decided to retire the 41-year-old largely due to safety worries with regards to a throttle pedal issue on his HRT. The team were prepared for a tough 55-lap race, and are already looking ahead to the Indian Grand Prix in several weeks time.

Only several laps into the race, Pedro de la Rosa began to immediately feel the effects of the throttle pedal issue, despite enjoying a positive start. Initially the pedal began to jam, eventually worsening throughout the opening laps. Due to safety issues, the team made the decision to retire Pedro de la Rosa, in an attempt to avoid any chance of an incident as the F112’s handling began to deteriorate.

"We were anticipating a tough race but the start was good.” Explained Pedro de la Rosa, “Unfortunately, we had a problem with the throttle pedal since the fifth lap. At the start it would get slightly jammed but as the laps went by it got worse so the team decided to pull me out. I think they made the right decision because, not only was the car very difficult to handle and we were going slower and slower, but it was also dangerous.”

Although Pedro de la Rosa retired in the early stages of the race, Narain Karthikeyan was able to make it to the end of the race albeit in 20th and last place, two laps off the pace of race winner Sebastian Vettel. Despite this difficult race weekend, the Madrid-based outfit are confident further improvements can be made next time out at the Indian Grand Prix.

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