German GP: Practice notes - HRT

20/07/2012

Just like in England a couple of weeks ago, the weather played a leading role in the first day of the German Grand Prix which took place at the Hockenheimring today. Despite a few rain drops, the morning session took place in mainly dry conditions. Dani Clos and Pedro de la Rosa, who shared the garage and track for the third time this season, were able to complete a good session and make the most of practically the entire 90-minute session by working on the F112's set-up.

These conditions were very different to the ones encountered by the drivers in the second session. The large amount of rain meant that it was only possible to run on extreme wet tyres until the halfway point of the session when the intermediates came out to play. Narain Karthikeyan was able to test both tyre compounds and make the most of the session from start to finish. The mechanics worked against the clock for de la Rosa to get a first chance to test the F112 in these conditions, which will be very helpful for tomorrow where, once again, rain is expected.

Pedro de la Rosa: "Today was a bit of a strange day, but I'm happy to have been able to run this morning on primes and one last stint on intermediate tyres. That way, if it doesn't rain in the race, we've got a small idea of what we can encounter and if tomorrow the track is wet, which it seems it will be, at least we've got an idea of what it can be like. The mechanics did a good job to get the car out today and now we must work on the set-up for tomorrow".

Narain Karthikeyan: "It wasn't my best day because I didn't run in the morning and FP2 was wet. It wasn't very productive and if tomorrow is dry I will be facing completely new conditions. But it looks like it's going to rain tomorrow so today's data will be useful. I expect it to be tough tomorrow but I'm ready for the challenge".

Dani Clos: "It was an interesting session where I was able to run in dry conditions for a large amount of time, although the track was changing. Some rain drops started to fall which, at times, made it a bit more complicated. But I'm happy with how it went. We did a good job and the car responded well, which is the objective".

Luis Perez-Sala, Team Principal: "Today we were able to give Dani continuity and he was able to do more miles in the F112. The day was complicated because FP1 was mainly dry whilst FP2 was wet. In the afternoon we had a small issue with the braking system on Pedro's car, but the team did a great job and he was able to come out towards the end of the session. Narain ran in wet in the afternoon and he was able to get to know the circuit a bit better in these conditions. Overall it went well but there is still work to do".

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