[from F1 Racing]
How Hispania made it to the grid in 2010
This is the incredible story of how HRT went from a disparate group of people and a couple of empty chassis, to a fully operational grand prix team in just three weeks
Three weeks before the opening qualifying session of the year, two race cars are in bits, slowly collecting dust in an Italian factory. They sit forlornly as Dallara engineers scurry around working on other projects; nothing has been done on the cars for the past month as the financial tap has dried up.
But after a midnight rendezvous, telephone calls to Bernie Ecclestone, the arrival of an experienced F1 troubleshooter and the investment of a well-known Spanish family, work once again commences on the cars. Just one week later, they are freighted on a 3,000-mile trip to Bahrain where they will both qualify for the opening grand prix of the year.
This is the incredible story of how Hispania Racing was created just three weeks before the 2010 season began.
Out of the ashes of the Campos F1 team, the new HRT cars – piloted by Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok – arrived in Sakhir and were fired-up for the very first time in the pitlane. And despite the critics, this plucky, back-of-the-grid team have proved what is possible thanks to an injection of cash, steely determination, technical experience and sheer bloody hard work. Oh, and a distinct lack of kip…


Kolles: Payment had stopped with a lot of suppliers so I had to speak to them,
re-negotiate and get everything sorted. We renamed the team HRT (Hispania Racing Team) and managed to get a show car to Murcia on Thursday. I knew the strength
and infrastructure of the people I had and I never doubted we would get to Bahrain. Never. I expected everyone to deliver.
Willis: People who Colin had got together started to arrive from various places and we got together with the assembly mechanics from Dallara and started working on where to put wiring looms and hydraulic lines, where to support them and where to put bracket lines. We had to check brakelines and install brakes, pedals and steering columns. So we just made the freight deadline and got the cars shipped to Bahrain.
Senna: That week was quite tense as I didn't realise that the car had never been put together before Bahrain, and we arrived at the track for the first time with a group of people who didn't know the car – some of them still arriving on the Monday morning before the race. And communication was sometimes difficult, as we had Spanish, German, Italian and English people working together with different levels of experience.
Chandhok: The mechanics were in good spirits as everyone was just happy to have made it to Bahrain. So for the guys it was a relief to get there, but for them to work 40 hours straight was ridiculous. It's not pleasant. I have to say it's good to have Bruno in the other car as he's a mate of mine and he's going through the same situation so we can talk things over.
Willis: The first time one of the cars was ever fired up was on the Thursday in Bahrain. There wasn't so much of a cheer – it was more along the lines of 'that's done, that's ticked off and now we have to check the gearbox works'. Then some new bits for the hydraulic system and a few more loom bits turned up.
Kolles: I've had quite a few tough weeks in my career and this was tough because there was no sleep. We had 70 people working day and night, not sleeping, but I never thought about failure. We had this willpower and determination to succeed.
Senna: There was a lot of pressure leaving the pits for the first time, because we
didn't know if things were going to work or if the car would catch on fire or if the hydraulics or gearbox would fail. But I could go full power and the car changed gears. Nothing was perfect, but it was working. I didn't have many problems with the car – okay we didn't have any performance, but our objective was to do miles and learn about the car in the first race.
Chandhok: I knew Friday practice would be tight because my wiring loom turned up a day later than Bruno's. Then finally, on the Friday night, they got the car fired up and the shift checked and in the morning it was okay. I got changed into my overalls and got into the garage. But then ten minutes before the start of Saturday practice we couldn't find the gears as we lost hydraulic pressure. And that's when I couldn't believe it – I thought it was a joke. It came up on the dash and I thought it was a piss take.


在距离赛季第一次自由练习赛只有三周的时候，在意大利，有两辆赛车还是一块一块的零部件，正慢慢地聚集灰尘。他们孤立无援地被扔在一边，Dallara的工程师们急匆匆地走来走去，忙着别的项目；上个月，资金被耗尽了，一整个月都没人碰过他们。
但是在一个夜半会谈后，电话打给了伯尼，经验老道的F1问题解决专家，来自西班牙著名家族的投资，赛车又重新开始研发了。就在一个星期之后，他们被转运到3，000公里之外的巴林，在那里，两辆车都会参加新赛季的排位赛。
这个令人难以置信的故事就是HRT是怎样在仅仅三周中便成为2010赛季的一员。
HRT的赛车在坎波斯F1车队的灰烬中诞生——驾驶者是布鲁诺塞纳和卡伦查铎——抵达了萨基尔赛道，在维修区中第一次点火。尽管批评声音不断，这支简陋而垫底的车队证明了资金的注入，钢铁般的意志，技术上的经验和努力十足的工作可以把不可能变为现实。哦，还有很明显基础的匮乏...
布鲁诺塞纳：我在12月末的时候去过Dallara，我看到两个单体壳还有车身工作以及一些负荷测试部分，正在进行很多工作项目，但是等到一月末和二月中旬的时候，情况变得很糟糕了，我开始怀疑整个计划。看上去我们去不了巴林。
卡伦查铎：去年在瓦伦西亚我就和坎波斯开始谈判，但是，那个时候，我和很对车队都在谈合同，包括雷诺。后来我又和坎波斯在一月份谈了谈，但是他开始不确定了。
很幸运的是，在这个领域我有不错的合同基础——我的手机里有1，600个号码，很显然伯尼是一个非常棒的信息源。有时他会说，“坐稳了，一周都别和别人讲话，保持沉默，让事情慢慢发展。”其他时候他会说，“好吧，你需要打个电话什么什么的。”他给了我意见。接着我被告知和科林科勒斯（Colin Kolles）谈谈......
科林科勒斯：我本来为斯蒂凡诺维奇的斯蒂芬GP工作，但却被要求参与到这个计划中，所以我和卡拉班特家族（原来坎波斯的投资者）安排了一次会议。那是二月份第一周末，我说我们需要见面。立刻。
所以他们飞到了慕尼黑，我们在晚上11点进行了长达4个小时的谈话。他们被拖进一个不愉快的境地，并希望能够做出决定。应该停手损失掉已经投入的资金么？或是以另一种方式继续？我知道如果我获得了F1中最重要的人的支持，一定会成功的......
布鲁诺塞纳：我和车队来的人谈话，听了各种各样的流言，最后，我到了伦敦，接到了个电话，发现新的车队架构完成了。
科勒斯：我做的第一件事就是打电话给Boris Bermes，他负责照顾我在德国的生意运作。我对他说我们现在要去F1了，我们仅仅只有三周。他说，“好的。”当超级亚久里结束后，我买了他们的基础设施：设备，货物运输——所以这是很大的有利因素。
查铎：我和科林在二月中旬签定了合同，之后到意大利的Dallara完成了座椅调试，我就是在那里和车队见面的。这距离西班牙穆尔西亚的发布只有一周。科林做的第一件事情是让Dallara恢复工作，因为资金的问题他们已经损失了三到四周。除了科林，没有人更加擅长解决纷争，当局面混乱不堪时，他不惜字如金——只是一心一意地处理。
杰夫威利斯（技术总监）：我接到了科林的电话，到了Dallara，立刻就发现了挑战有多么大。我和Ben Agathangelou （首席空气动力学工程师）谈了谈，看了看风洞规模。他们在制作工房有一个底盘，也做过一些颠簸测试，但很多很多其他部分还没有成形。
于是我们谈了谈已经完成的部分，已经做过了碰撞测试的，又了解了赛车的设计理念。我们不得不抄近路，很明显这样做起来容易很多了。通常一辆赛车要用10到14天的时间，我们用了一周，因为将货物运到巴林的截止时间是那周五下午。大部分晚上，我们工作到早上两点才结束，七点钟又回去工作。
科勒斯：很多供应商停止了交付，我不得不和他们交涉，重新谈判，解决所有的问题。我们将车队重命名为HRT（Hispania Racing Team）并在周四穆尔西亚发布新车。我知道我所拥有的人力物力，我从没有质疑过是否能前往巴林。从来没有。我希望每个人能一起努力。