In its first ever wet Formula 1 qualifying session Hispania Racing’s drivers Karun Chandhok and Bruno Senna will start 22nd and 23rd on the grid for the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Hispania missed out on the wet pre-season in Spain, and so the full wet conditions that greeted the team on Saturday provided a step into the unknown.
Dr. Colin Kolles told of the challenges facing the team in qualifying. “Having never run the car in the wet before this weekend, HRT F1 team was taking a gamble with this wet weather for both cars. Without pre-season testing it is a big challenge to go out and drive in really wet conditions like today. Let’s see what the weather brings during the race tomorrow.”
Bruno Senna had an eventful Q1 which involved a trip off the tarmac. “It’s been a bit of a difficult day. Conditions were very tough and it was our first experience of these conditions. I covered five laps before sliding off on the very wet track and unfortunately the engine stalled. Luckily I could go out of the gravel, going back to the garage and do more laps after it.”
However, after the disastrous day for McLaren and Ferrari, Karun Chandhok looks forward to starting his third grand prix so close to some well-established F1 race winners. “I will start tomorrow’s race just behind Trulli, Alonso, Hamilton and Massa. The weather was not looking good in the afternoon before qualifying and I was not sure if it would hold until the qualifying session as well. It didn’t and that gave us our first wet experience driving the car for the first time in heavy rain. I made the best of it.”
