is Hispania done ?

[airshifter]

Sure they have an opportunity, and it's nobody elses fault if they miss it.

But the costs to try to bring in a new F1 team are already high, and if sponsors see new teams failing on a regular basis it will become harder and harder to attract new teams to the sport.

I really think they should have some provision to allow some additional testing for new teams that do not make the 107% rule. It could be a limited number of times, and limited testing. It just seems to me that it's a huge waste to create a system where someone just outside the door has no way to develop and try to get in, while the cars on track are collecting real data and widening the gap every race.

For all we know HRT or the next team trying to replace them if they fail could be the next Lotus, Williams, Ferrari, or McLaren.

[Malbec]

to be honest, the problem isn't the drivers or mechanics, the problem is the likes of Kolles and Carabante, ain't doing their jobs right,

Kolles is doing a fantastic job. Without him the team wouldn't have made it to Bahrain 2010 and certainly not to 2011. He provides just about everything the team needs to run.

The problem is Carabantes. I understand that he is a reluctant owner but he's under the mistaken impression that all you need to do with an F1 team is to buy it. He is unwilling to come to terms with the fact that you have to keep investing money to have any chance of survival let alone success.

Thankfully HRT have TATA sponsorship and good TV revenue money from beating Virgin last season. They are financially able to survive this year but their long term future depends on landing new sponsors or Carabante waking up and realising what he has to do if he isn't going to lose the team and all his investment.

[CNR]

the funny or sad part about this is if they had of used the old cars
http://paddocktalk.com/news/html/mod...cle&sid=131438
2010 Australia: Formula One Qualifying Results

Bruno Senna 1:30.526
Karun Chandhok 1:30.613

the cut off was target of lapping the Albert Park street circuit in 1min 31.266sec.

[Garry Walker]

And finally some people saying they are a waste of space, I always think about Minardi. A team that for the last 15 years of it existance on the whole was adrift of the pack and 4,5 or 6 seconds off the pace, and yet because they had been around a while people grew to love them, and support them.

They offered no real benefit to the sharp end of F1 for a lot of years, but there endless battling against the odds and occasional great result. Gene and Badoer in Europe 99, Mazzacane US 2000, Alonso's great drives, Webber in Oz 2002, Baumgartner USA 2004. Albers Quali lap 2005 Canada.
Mean't most people loved them.

I can quite honestly say that Minardi held no meaning to me and when so many were so desperate to see them on grid, I couldnt care less. Incompetence should not be hailed or praised. I was always hoping they would leave F1 and some far more competent team would take over.

I agree.

They got very close to making the 107% rule after putting the cars on track for the very first time. That really is amazing considering the time the other teams spent on development after the initial testing sessions.

F1 could lose a lot of sponsors if it's too difficult to get into the races.

I am not sure why F1 would lose sponsors if teams such as Lotus and HRT left F1? No one cares about them.

If I am not mistaken, HRT would have needed to be 2 seconds quicker to qualify.

[F1boat]

I think that they had to find money and test and that's why the decision of the stewards was correct. It is pointless to be a movable chicane - you are not really "racing" with other people.

[airshifter]

I am not sure why F1 would lose sponsors if teams such as Lotus and HRT left F1? No one cares about them.

No one cares much about Lotus and HRT now. What happens if other teams pull out of F1 and nobody is willing to take a chance to field new teams to fill the grid? It's not as if all teams stay in F1 and nobody ever leaves.

[Bezza]

Karthikeyan is a very poor driver, and he will struggle all year to make the 107% rule. I would much more have preferred them to keep Chandhok.

Liuzzi was squeeze into a race further down the line, where the track conditions are more equal? Or in the wet?

But on the whole I can't see them lasting much longer in F1.

[Bagwan]

Time to sell .

I know of a guy who wants in .

[Dave B]

It was the right decision not to let them race, regrettably. They were so painfully slow, and neither driver seemed particularly aware of their surroundings. It would have been farcical.

I honestly don't have any sympathy for them. It's not like last season when the finances only came together at the last minute - they had a whole year to prepare and even with the two week "bonus" of Bahrain being cancelled they still couldn't cobble together a car until the day of first practice. Unexcusable.

I reckon they knew they wouldn't stand a chance, but if they skipped Australia they could have been DQd from the whole season so it was cheaper to turn up and do a lap then limp home.

[Rollo]

I find this most encouraging:

Thankfully HRT have TATA sponsorship and good TV revenue money from beating Virgin last season. They are financially able to survive this year but their long term future depends on landing new sponsors or Carabante waking up and realising what he has to do if he isn't going to lose the team and all his investment.

Particularly the fact that they have Tata sponsorship. I would assume that if Tata want to make a name for themselves on the world stage, then they pretty well much have an easy buy in don't they. Tata has interests in steel, chemical processing, a power company... they're pretty huge. In fact if Tata bought the team, they they could cover the whole car in Tata logos for the various component parts of the group and not leave any space for anyone else.