015 - The Future of Hispania F1

Bruno Senna demonstrating the difficult handling of the Hispania F110 (Australian GP 2010)

Once again the rumour mill descends on the security of the future of one member of the F1 circus. In recent times the target of such speculation has centred around the immenent departure of one or more of the manufacturer teams (Renault, Honda and Toyota for example), though this year the focus has switched to the sustainability of the new teams, and notably perennial backmarkers Hispania who it is rumoured are struggling to finance the remainder of their 2010 campaign, let alone 2011 development.

Cast your minds back if you will to March and free practice of the opening round of the 2010 Formula 1 season at the Bahrain Grand Prix, and following a last minute rescue deal by Spanish buisnessman Jose Carabante after the failure of initial entry Campos GP, the frantic launch and assembly of the renamed Hispania F110 began. It seems impossible that in such an age in Formula 1 that a car may turn its' first wheel on the eve of a its' Grand Prix debut, but such was the dilemma for the late triple world champion Ayrton Senna's nephew. (Spare a thought for Senna's recently signed teammate Karun Chandhok though, who had to wait a further 24 hours until the qualifying session before he got his first chance to sample the car). The TV pictures bore witness to the car's difficult birth, as both rookie drivers fought to hold on to the car at every twist and turn of the track (see video from Round 2 - Australian GP above). Neither car finished the race, but the fact they even made the grid after a Winter of late payments to chassis maker Dallara and talk of collapse was a testament to the team's resilience. Gradual race finishes and outqualifying the more developed and better funded Virgin Racing team attracted a few small sponsor names, though these were dwarfed in comparison to the driver and team names filling up otherwise blank advertising space and the team continued to struggle eventually splitting with Dallara.

This perhaps if not already evident became more so on the eve of the British GP last month where Bruno Senna was sidelined to make way for Sakon Yamamoto, renowned widely for his wide back catalogue of wealthy sponsors rather than his driving ability. Yamamoto did this reputation no favours by starting the following event (now replacing Karun Chandhok) whilst his pit-lane speed limiter was engaged, before retiring after accidentally tripping the fire extinguisher. Inevitably suggestions began flowing that his seat was a means of keeping the outfit afloat. It must be remembered, that Hispania F1 (then Campos Meta GP) lodged their entry and signed the Concorde Agreement believing a budget cap would be implemented. The subsequent failure of this legislation must have hurt a team with low resources. Team manager Colin Kolles (of Midland and Spyker experience) along with owner Carabante has played down rumours of trouble reiterating that the team has a plan for 2011 and is of sound financial health, with the opportunity of a tie up with Toyota to use their unraced TF110 chassis, staff and data.

“Obviously you have to look in a Formula One team every day how you find more sponsorship and how you survive. [But] I think our situation is not better or worse than any of the smaller teams.” (Colin Kolles, European GP 2010).

Although the well funded Japanese Yamamoto is seeming a permanent replacement for Chandhok, Hispania are in need of funds to secure their future involvement in the sport. Chandhok and Senna have done well to achieve their recorded qualifying and race finish results in a car far behind in development terms than that of their peers, although Yamamoto has been less impressive thus far. Considering the difficult conception of the F110, lack of development and lack of experience of the drivers the team must be acknowledged for their ability to mix with the Virgin Racing team on occasion, though reliability issues have plagued their opportunity to prolong these fights. Whilst it would be a shame to see the loss of a face from the F1 circus, their future and drivers' 2011 employment prospects given the low availability of seats elsewhere on the grid, may rest with the Spanish team's ability to rake in the attention from sponsors, and satisfy their accountants.

* Pictures courtesy of www.f1.co.uk, http://1.bp.blogspot.com/ via Google Image Search and www.hispaniaf1team.com Gallery. All rights held by respective owners.
* Video from YouTube under search heading 'Bruno Senna Hispania Onboard'. Click on video to be redirected to original source.