Hispania got another race finish under their belts in Canada this weekend, with Karun Chandhok bringing his car home in 18th. Bruno Senna, however, was forced to retire with gearbox failure.
Both cars manage to stay out of trouble off the start line, while those up ahead were fighting for the same areas of tarmac. In the early stages of the race, the two drivers found themselves fighting for positions with other drivers who had found themselves out of position.
“Today, we really could race with other teams and were fighting hard for good positions with the other teams,” explained Colin Kolles, the Hispania team principal. “We were on a two-stop-strategy like the top six drivers. On one side it was a good race because we could beat Virgin on track. But on the other hand I think that we could have had a better result. Bruno unfortunately had a gear box problem and this is why he had to stop the race.”
Karun Chandhok had a tricky weekend, managing just one heavily-compromised qualifying lap on Saturday, were he could only select odd-numbered gears. However, the Indian rookie was pleased to finish the race, and finish it ahead of the two Virgin Racing drivers.
“Obviously I didn't drive at all yesterday and it was a good race under these circumstances,” explained Chandhok. “We were racing both Virgins and I was eight seconds ahead of Timo Glock even before he stopped in the end.
“I am quite pleased, at the end realistically we were only racing those three cars and we were ahead of them. It was a tough race with the traffic and everybody was struggling with the tyres.
“The team did a great job today and the guys did good pit stops under pressure today. The car was reliable, which is what we were struggling with this weekend.”
Bruno Senna was obviously frustrated with his retirement, and is already looking ahead to Spain a week on Sunday. “The second gear was lost and there was no way to finish the race without it on this track. So, we decided to retire which is really disappointing as it could have been a good race for us. Now, we have to make the best of this weekend and focus on the next race in Valencia.”
