F1 Team Facts: HRT

The HRT Formula 1 Team, formerly known as Campos Meta 1 and Hispania Racing, is a Spanish team that was founded by driver Adrián Campos. In 2010, the team was sold to José Ramón Carabante and later to Thesan Capital in 2011. The HRT is the first team to participate in the F1 race. They were granted entry in 2010, but struggled with financial difficulties that inhibited them from participating in pre-season testing. The HRT struggled to get started and place in the first few series.

In January 2010, Narain Karthikeyan joined the team for the 2011 season. In 2005, he drove for the Jordan team. He left Formula 1 in 2007 and went on to drive for Team India in A1GP where he won two races. In 2010, he competed in a number of competitions, including the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in the USA and Superleague Formula in Europe. He was the first local driver to race at the inaugural F1 Grand Prix in India in 2011.

In November 2011, Pedro de la Rosa signed a two-year contract to drive for HRT. He is the first Spanish driver to race for Spain’s first F1 team. De la Rosa has been in Formula 1 for over 12 years. He has raced in the Grand Prix a total of 85 times for Jaguar, Arrows, Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes and BMW-Sauber for 8 seasons. He has helped to develop winning cars in 35 Grands Prix including in 2008 when Lewis Hamilton won the Driver’s Championship.

At the Australian Grand Prix in 2012, both HRT drivers were not allowed to race because they both failed to lap within 107% of the fastest time in the first part of qualifying. They will be driving for HRT in the 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix.