Narain 15th for HRT’s best result; Double finish for Force India

Monte Carlo, 27 May 2012: The first Indian to drive in  Formula 1, Narain Karthikeyan, achieved the best-result thus far in the season for HRT, the Spanish outfit at the principality of Monaco as he finished 15th ahead of Jenson Button, who was classified as 16th in a race won by Mark Webber of Red Bull who started on pole. The F1 World Championship 2012 set a unique record of throwing up six winners in the first six races of a season for the first time. In 1983, the season saw five different winners in the first five races.

The other highlight for Indian fans is a strong double finish by Sahara Force India. Paul Di Resta finished 7th followed by Nico Hulkenberg to boost the points as co-owner Vijay Mallya and his son Sid tweeted merrily.

For the team it was a bittersweet sensation once again as Karthikeyan skilfully drove through the Principality’s streets and, after a two-stop strategy, crossed the finish line with his F112 but his teammate Pedro de la Rosa who, despite completing three good practice sessions and an impeccable qualifying session, fell victim to the tricky Monaco circuit. The Spanish driver got hit from behind when trying to avoid a car that had crashed on the first lap of the race. The damage suffered to the rear wing was quite severe and de la Rosa was forced to retire.

With no time to lose, HRT Formula 1 Team will head to Madrid this very night to prepare all the material that will fly out to Canada in a couple of days for the seventh Grand Prix of the season which will take place in Montreal from the 8th to the 10th of June.

Pedro de la Rosa: “It was a terrible shame; I feel sorry for the team because yesterday we did a good job and today we were starting from an interesting position and I think we could have achieved a good result. Our one-stop strategy with softs first and super-softs second was good, you only have to see what Vettel did, so it was a shame not to have been able to complete more than 300 metres. It wasn’t a mistake by me or the team, but one by another driver, but those things happen in races. One day it might happen to me too, the sad thing is that it happened precisely here after all the good work we’d done and how much I was looking forward to finishing in Monaco with a good result. I leave here a little bit sad because, although we wouldn’t have scored a point, we could have at least finished with a good result”.

Narain Karthikeyan: “It was a tough race because we were very limited on our tyres. We tried to keep a constant pace, stay out of trouble and finish the race; we knew that if we managed to do that we would be able to finish in a good position. 15th position is a good result and a good way of getting over the disappointment from Barcelona. Now what I need to do is work on putting together a good lap in qualifying as that has been my weakest point this season. Hopefully I’ll be able to carry the momentum from here onto the next race in Canada and continue to progress”.

Luis Pérez-Sala, Team Principal: “We’ve got mixed feelings today. Pedro got hit from behind in the early stages, which was a real shame but, on the other hand, Narain completed a very good race and we achieved a 15th place finish, our best result this season so far. This race is always complicated and, given the forecast, we started with a strategy planned for a wet race. In the end it didn’t rain and that cost us a couple of positions. But we’re satisfied because we finished the race, with one car at least and only two laps off the winner, something which here in Monte Carlo is positive for us”.