Hispania again managed to get both cars to the finish line at Silverstone today. Karun Chandhok reached the checkered flag in nineteenth place, one higher than Sakon Yamamoto, his new teammate for this race weekend.
“We are very happy with the result as today we could finish with two cars for the fourth time this season,” said Hispania Team Principal Dr. Colin Kolles. “Karun Chandhok and Sakon Yamamoto started on option tyres into the race as we found out that this tyre compound was the best for a long run. Our pit stop was quite late and we changed on prime tyres.
“Sakon showed a good performance during the race after being back in a Formula 1 car for many years. All in all, we had a trouble free race and I want to thank the team for doing a great job the whole weekend.”
Chandhok said that the team could not realistically achieve anything more than a double finish here, and seemed pleased just to beat his teammate, who actually has more F1 starts under his belt.
“The race was pretty much as we expected to be honest,” the Indian driver said. “We weren’t really in a position to race with others so I pushed early on to open about 15 seconds gap to Sakon.
“After the pit stop, I ran over some debris which damaged the barge board and the side pod on my car costing downforce. So after the safety car it was all about just managing the damage and the gap to Sakon.
“Another double finish for the team and that’s about all we can expect at the moment.”
Yamamoto’s last F1 race was in Brazil in 2007, and he enjoyed being back in the cockpit for Silverstone. Bruno Senna will be back to replace Yamamoto at the next Grand Prix in Germany.
“I am very happy that the team achieved its target, another two car finish,” said Yamamoto. “It was a good experience for me to race in Formula 1 again. I could improve all over the weekend and got a better feeling for the car. I want to thank the team for giving me the chance to race here in Silverstone. I could show that I am prepared to be back in the cockpit and whenever I'll get the opportunity to race again, I will take it. I also want to thank my fans who always supported me over the years. It was a very special and exciting weekend for me.”
Both cars had sported “Vamos España” stickers in today’s race, an indication of who the Spanish team are rooting for in this evening’s FIFA World Cup final.
