http://www.thenational.ae/sport/form...ules-are-rules
I'm sorry Hispania, but rules are rules
I felt bad about not allowing the Hispania Racing Team (HRT) to take part in Australia, but you cannot compete in Formula One on the cheap.

The bottom line is that Vitantonio Liuzzi and Narain Karthikeyan were just not fast enough.

I was the drivers' representative on the panel of stewards in Melbourne and we could not let them race. Their cars were too slow.

Their best time was two seconds off the pace of next slowest car, and Karthikeyan's quickest effort was more than 10 seconds behind Sebastian Vettel's pole position time in his Red Bull Racing car.