After months of evaluations and negotiations in which diverse options have been assessed, Spanish team HRT has finally opted for the facilities of the Complejo Deportivo Madrid Caja Mágica to locate its permanent headquarters.

The team will occupy part of the Caja Mágica facilities and will coexist with the Masters 1000 Madrid Open. HRT F1 Team will be specifically situated in the Indoor Sur and Indoor Central buildings, occupying a total surface of 11,000m2.

In only seven months, the new directors have carried out a restructuring process with the objective of providing the team with stability and viability, besides having a new identity. To reach these targets, a lot of hard work has been focused on three fronts in these last three months: the new car, the renewed operational and technical team and a permanent headquarters which, besides from uniting the whole team in a workspace with F1 standards, will contribute an added value to the team.

With the signing of Pedro de la Rosa this past October a long desired objective was accomplished, which was none other than to incorporate a Spanish driver. The recent addition of Narain Karthikeyan completes a driver line-up packed with experience, which is of great value in this new chapter for the team.

The renewal of the technical team started once the 2011 season was over and the new team members have been working ever since at the temporary logistical base in Paterna, Valencia, until the definitive relocation to the permanent headquarters is carried out. The chosen venue had to meet very specific and ambitious requirements.

And the Complejo Deportivo Madrid Caja Mágica meets the requirements that HRT Formula 1 Team considers indispensable for this new chapter. It is a versatile and sustainable space that will take in the different departments that make up the team besides being an area open to fans, sponsors, suppliers and collaborators.

Remodeling and adaptation of the space will begin immediately and it is calculated that in under a month the first workers will be able to move in. The technical and operational sectors of the team won’t do so until Formula 1 returns to Europe but the headquarters is expected to be fully operational for May. The Technical Design Office is anticipated to move in progressively as of early June, thus completing a programme which is calculated to generate more than a hundred jobs with different degrees of specialization.

The headquarters won’t only be a technological and R&D centre, but also a way of getting closer to the public, sponsors, suppliers and collaborators with accessible areas such as a future museum, guided tours or a conference area, whilst also becoming a formation centre.

Electric mobility and sustainability are fundamental aspects for HRT and something it shares with the Complejo Deportivo Caja Mágica. The team is a pioneer in the Formula 1 world after integrating alternative energies to petrol in its mobility plan and using electric bicycles to move around both at Grands Prix and away from them.

The Complejo Deportivo Madrid Caja Mágica is a multifunctional centre designed by the architect Dominique Perrault. It is located in the Parque Lineal del Manzanares, in a space of 17 hectares which includes large garden areas. The design and distribution of this space enables the celebration of all kinds of events, not only sporting ones, such as presentations, spectacles and conventions.

Saúl Ruiz de Marcos, HRT F1 Team CEO: “For us it is fundamental to have a headquarters that, apart from uniting the team and ending with the dispersion, is beneficial from a logistical and industrial point of view. But that also enables us to maintain a closer relationship with our fans, suppliers and sponsors. Madrid and the Caja Mágica facilities fit perfectly with the standards we were looking for. In the last few months we have assessed different options, looked at their pros and cons, and we feel that the decision to establish our permanent headquarters in Madrid was the best one. I want to thank Madrid Espacios y Congresos for the interest they have shown in this going ahead and I’m sure that this relationship will be very beneficial for everyone”.

Luis Pérez-Sala, Team Principal of HRT F1 Team: “We’ve been working hard for months and establishing our permanent headquarters was very important. Finding a space in which we could all work together was vital, in order to optimize work and generate a good team feeling, a sense of belonging. When the adaptation of the facilities is completed and every department starts working under the same roof in a few months, we will only have one step left to take, which is to have the design department in Madrid too. All this implies not only becoming a place to feel identified with and carry out activities for the team, its sponsors, suppliers and fans, but also an important reference in technology and R&D in the centre of Madrid”.

Kamui Kobayashi was the hero of Sunday’s Japanese grand prix, enhancing his growing reputation as the launcher of kamikaze overtaking moves.

To the delight of his Japanese fans, the Sauber rookie scythed through the field from fourteenth on the grid to seventh at the finish.

“The way he overtook several competitors was absolutely spectacular,” said team CEO Monisha Kaltenborn, standing in as team boss in Japan for the absent Peter Sauber.

The 24-year-old launched audacious moves on Adrian Sutil, Rubens Barrichello and Jaime Alguersuari, but teammate Nick Heidfeld was dispensed rather more easily.

“The team asked me not to make any problems for him,” the German is quoted by Swiss newspaper Blick.

The paper’s veteran correspondent Roger Benoit asked Kobayashi precisely how many overtaking moves he attempted at Suzuka on Sunday.

“I can’t remember,” he answered.  “I only know that there were crashes all around me at the start, and later I made some contacts with my opponents.

“My car is rather damaged!” he revealed.

Team manager Beat Zehnder explained: “Some deflectors are missing from the car, and the sidepod has a big hole in it.  Also a part of the front wing isn’t there any more.”

Renault’s Robert Kubica retired from the race after five minutes with a missing wheel.

Said the Pole: “What Kamui did with his car was super.  Because I had to watch on television, he saved my day.”

Mercedes will revert to its original 2010 car for the Monaco grand prix this weekend.

The Brackley based team unveiled a car with a longer wheelbase in Spain last weekend, which is tipped to have helped Michael Schumacher get the upper hand over his teammate Nico Rosberg for the first time in 2010.

But according to German media sources, the pre-Barcelona package – which in Rosberg’s hands was driven to the podium twice in four races – will be up and running again in Monaco because it better suits the slow and twisty curves of the unique street layout.

The shorter-wheelbase car will however be fitted with the latest aerodynamic innovations in Monaco, including the knife-like rollover structure and engine cover air inlets.

“I am very optimistic that we will be more competitive than in Barcelona,” team CEO Nick Fry is quoted as saying by Germany’s RTL.

(GMM)

Speculation has begun because the Campos Meta ‘scuderia’ condition is unknown. According to a press conference by the Stefan GP’s team itself, headed by the Serbian entrepreneur Zoran Stefanovic, who today announced that they have reached an agreement with Toyota for the technical assistance as they allegedly incorporate to the Formula One.

“Stefan GP has clarified its intention to compete in the Formula One.  It has reached a basic agreement with Toyota Motorsport so that it (Stefan GP) receives technical support from the Japanese manufacturer,” the press release indicates.

Stefan GP was one of the teams that did not enter this year.  However, the ‘scuderia’ has not remained isolated; from the time of its refusal to enter as one of the new teams, it has had negotiations with Toyota.

That being so, the Serbian team is shaping up as one of the main reserve teams to take the place that would be left vacant by any of the new teams that have joined the Formula One this year, if any of them withdraws, of course (it is understood that due to financial problems.)

Last year, the current McLaren team CEO, Martin Whitmarsh, suggested the possibility that any of the new teams would be made up with the Toyota place, buying its chassis.  “Many of these teams had the chance to buy a chassis from Toyota.  The Japanese brand built two cars that were available before Christmas, and I’m quite surprised that some of them didn’t (buy a chassis).” Well, this seems to be the case of the Serbian team.

The funny thing is that the team itself gave the press conference.  Do they want to press due to the delays of some teams?