HRT F112
Pedro de la Rosa at HRT F112 at the Grand Prix of Australia 2012
Template: Infobox racing car / Maintenance / stop parameters
The HRT F112 is a race car of the Spanish Formula 1 team HRT. It was used in the 2012 Formula 1 season and driven by Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan.
History of development
The HRT F112 is the third car of the racing team HRT (formerly Hispania Racing F1 Team). He was born in a time of upheaval. HRT had largely abandoned in the years 2010 and 2011 in the construction and the use of its racing cars on the logistic support of Colin Kolles, so the team had after it had separated in December 2011 by Kolles, the development of the car for the 2012 season forge ahead alone. The development phase coincided with the move of the team that had to build the year 2011/2012 under the direction of Luis Pérez- Sala a new team based in Spain. The team management realized early on that this double burden would adversely affect the competitiveness of the new car, and expressed in December 2011, the expectation that the residue of the HRT F112 will be more severe than in 2011.
Technology
The new HRT F112 was designed by Jackie Eeckelart and Stephane Chosse. The development work for the HRT F112 was held in a register held by Eeckelart engineering office in Munich largely. In building the cars HRT used the services of external suppliers to a significant extent.
The HRT F112 was a re- development of the designed by Dallara in 2009 HRT F110. The chassis was according to press reports still identical to the F110. Essential body parts were identical to the preceding vehicles in the opinion of observers. New was only a step-like vehicle nose, which corresponded approximately to the structures that were seen in 2012 on the vehicles of other teams. The engine cover has been redesigned.
As a driving source HRT used, as in previous years, an eight-cylinder engine from Cosworth, which was considered reliable, but not powerful enough and apart from HRT only in the competition team Marussia was used. Power transmission was via a gear, the HRT of Williams moved. Also the construction of the rear axle was by Williams. The tires were provided as with all other teams by Pirelli. HRT renounced in 2012 as well as Marussia on the use of KERS.
The HRT F112 was built at Holzer Motorsport in Augsburg. Here also numerous items such as the pedals, the steering column or the harness emerged. The carbon fiber components were, however, constructed at Carbo Tech in Austria.
The HRT F112 was perceived by observers as "primitive" outdated design. The technique is very simple, but problematic. At the Grand Prix of Australia, the F112 had a significant cooling problems; the car overheated quickly. The team expected thermal problems for the Malaysian Grand Prix at the pit stops, but could not finish the race with both cars.
Idea
The completion of the HRT F112 was delayed until March 2012, when the auto major crash tests, which took place in February 2012, did not exist and therefore had to be made some improvements. As a result, HRT was unable to attend the official tests, which were held at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona in February and March 2012 with the F112.
Despite these delays succeeded HRT 2012 - unlike in the previous two years - to present publicly the current vehicle two weeks before the first race of the season. The presentation took place on March 5, 2012 in Barcelona. De la Rosa and Karthikeyan turned in the context of commercial shoots some demonstration laps, which served as a functional test at the same time. The team received very little information about the car, because the rounds were completed on demonstration tires, which have little resemblance to racing tires.
Paint and sponsorship
The HRT F112 was painted white and wore accent stripes in red and gold. So the team used in its third season, again a new color scheme. The vehicle is very few sponsor stickers showed. The side pods and engine cover were completely or largely sponsor -free. One of the few sponsors was - like last year - India's Tata Group.