HRT’s f111 delayed, Narain gets teammate

The HRT F1 team that Indian Narain Karthikeyan drives for delayed the launch of its new car (F111) due to components arriving late at Barcelona from the team's factory in England.

The HRT F1 team that Indian Narain Karthikeyan drives for delayed the launch of its new car (F111) due to components arriving late at Barcelona from the team's factory in England. Karthikeyan was originally scheduled to test for four days but due to the car's launch being pushed back to Friday, he will only get two days of testing at the most.

HT Image

While Narain was not able to get his hands on his new ride, he discovered the identity of his new teammate. Former Force India driver Vitantonio Liuzzi will partner Karthikeyan for the 2011 season that starts on March 27 at Melbourne with the Australian Grand Prix.

McLaren struggle
McLaren-Mercedes have been struggling to find reliability during pre-season testing and their problems continued in the final test at Barcelona. Former world champion Lewis Hamilton suffered a hydraulic leak as well as an exhaust failure on the second day of testing. Hamilton recovered well, however, to finish fourth. His best lap was, however, almost a second slower than that of pacesetter Sebastian Vettel.

Merc GP update car
Mercedes GP introduced its first update to its 2011 car, the MGP W02. The car featured new exhaust outlets designed to reduce aerodynamic drag. More updates are expected for the W02 that will be driven by Nico Rosberg and former seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher.