Sunday: De la Rosa out, Karthikeyan at the checkered flag with HRT
The HRT drivers quickly had to deal with a brake overheating problem – a recurring issue with the F112 this season. Karthikeyan and de la Rosa therefore had to slow down and, while the Indian was able to reach the finish line in front of his home crowd, the Spaniard went off the track at turn 4, falling victim to a brake failure.
Narain Karthikeyan – 21st:
« I got off to a good start but had an accident in the first corner and lost a part of the front wing. The damage wasn’t too serious, but we had some balance issues with the car from that point on. However, the biggest problem was the overheating of the brakes. They warned me over the radio that I needed to take care of them because we had to go all the way, and we made it. Today, we got the most out of what we had, and I’m happy to have finished my home race. »
Pedro de la Rosa – Retirement:
« It’s a shame that I had to retire because the car was good on hard tires, but without warning, the brakes gave out. This circuit is very demanding with three major consecutive braking points and, with high temperatures, it can happen, but the important thing is that I’m okay and the car is not too damaged before Abu Dhabi. We need to understand why there was this failure and how to fix it because Abu Dhabi is another tricky circuit for the brakes. »
