By Berthold Bouman
Only 22 cars are on the official 2013 entry list published by the FIA yesterday, as the HRT team is missing from the list. The Spanish outfit originally founded by Spanish ex-Formula One driver Adrian Campos also failed to pay the 500,000 Euro entry fee. Last month the team was put up for sale by current owner Thesan Capital and in a press release said they were ‘in talks with a number of groups interested in buying the team’.
The HRT team in Brazil a week ago
HRT have been struggling from day one, the team was originally owned by Campos Meta, then bought by Spanish entrepreneur Jose Ramon Carabante and last year sold to Thesan, who now apparently have failed to find a new buyer for the financially stricken team. Although there have been no official statements from Thesan or any of the HRT staff, it seems only 22 cars will appear at the start of the 2013 Australian Grand Prix.
Not only the names of HRT drivers Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan are missing from the list, but also other teams still have to complete their 2013 driver line-up. Romain Grosjean is not named as second Lotus driver, also the names of the Sauber, Force India, Toro Rosso, Caterham and Marussia drivers are missing from the list.
Sauber recently officially confirmed Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez, Toro Rosso confirmed Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne for 2013, while former Marussia driver Charles Pic has signed a multi-year contract with Caterham. Those names have been added to the list below.
2013 Provisional Entry List Car Driver Nat Team 01 Sebastian Vettel GER Red Bull-Renault 02 Mark Webber AUS Red Bull-Renault 03 Fernando Alonso ESP Ferrari 04 Felipe Massa BRA Ferrai 05 Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Mercedes 06 Sergio Perez MEX McLaren-Mercedes 07 Kimi Raikkonen FIN Lotus-Renault 08 TBA -- Lotus-Renault 09 Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes 10 Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes 11 Nico Hulkenberg GER Sauber-Ferrari 12 Esteban Gutierriez MEX Sauber-Ferrari 14 TBA -- Force India-Mercedes 15 TBA -- Force India-Mercedes 16 Pastor Maldonado VEN Williams-Renault 17 Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams Renault 18 Daniel Ricciardo AUS Toro Rosso-Ferrari 19 Jean-Eric Vergne FRA Toro Rosso Ferrari 20 TBA -- Caterham-Renault 21 Charles Pic FRA Caterham-Renault 22 TBA -- Marussia-Cosworth 23 TBA -- Marussia-Cosworth
Excellent article albeit sad thanks…our favourite team and fans! We know the hard working pit crew and in awe but alas results are key and funding takes time and trust of owners etc. Let’s hope Thesan find a buyer with deeper pockets and a 3-5 year plan.
AND feedback from colleagues: Banco Popular in talks with Thesan Capital regarding sale to a Chinese consortium to support ongoing driver Ma Quing Hua etc. You need continuity with the poit crew and engineers – please – guys!