Hispania F1 Team has passed away. The team which was put up for sale before the inaugural Austin Grand Prix was due to submit its entry on Friday night with the rest of the grid, but was given an extension due to their circumstances.
The extension expired tonight at 12pm Paris time (11pm GMT) and the team had yet again failed to make the deadline, meaning that they will not play a part in the 2013 World Championship. In line with such, Narain Karthikeyan and Pedro de la Rosa are expected to retire from the world of F1 which has not been kind to either driver.
The team was consistently at the back of the grid for their lifetime and have been the laughing stock of F1. Having said that, So were Red Bull when they started just 8 years ago. But now, it seems that Hispania will have no Christmas miracle which would have been brought by the arrival of a new owner.
The team was also under intense scrutiny after they suffered consistent brake and suspension failures aswell as a steering failure that saw Nico Rosberg fly over Narain Karthikeyan’s head, when the German was caught out by the difference in speed.
The team’s best finish in three years was 13th which they scored at the hectic 2011 Canadian Grand Prix at the hands of Vitantonio Liuzzi. They have also given Karun Chandhok, Bruno Senna, Pedro de la Rosa, Christian Klien, Sakon Yamamoto and Daniel Ricciardo drives in their 3 year run.
A big shame as pit crew, engineers and indeed drivers were terrific just not funded.