NARAIN KARTHIKEYAN POSTS BEST RESULT OF THE 2012 SEASON

 Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan posted his best result of the season for the HRT F1 team by finishing in 21^st place, while the Spanish squad once again managed to get both cars past the chequered flag with gap to the front runners and immediate rivals further reduced.

Karthikeyan started 24^th on the grid, and after an average start endured a difficult first stint on full tanks.

“The start was ok but the track was really dusty and I took too much out of the tyres and lost time to the guys ahead.

“As a result I had to pit early and we decided to try something different strategy-wise – a four-stop race instead of the three-stopper that most others went with.”

Having lost over ten seconds to his teammate Pedro De La Rosa, who had started in 20^th place, Karthikeyan set about closing the gap and building an extra cushion to allow for an extra stop.

Once on the medium tyres, the pace was quick and more consistent through the stint despite the high number of blue flags.

“The flags were out quite early here, but luckily it is a long circuit and we had to make sure that we didn’t lose a lot of time letting the faster cars pass.”

After their final pit-stops, with De La Rosa having made 3 and Karthikeyan 4, the Spaniard was over 20 seconds ahead of him on the track, and he had just 10 laps to reel him in.

Having elected for soft tyres on the final short stint, Karthikeyan was lighting up the timing screens, often lapping in the proximity of much quicker cars like the Torro Rossos.

Some sound judgement amidst the flurry of blue flags saw him close the gap to De La Rosa in the final couple of laps, at times taking out over two seconds a lap from the former’s lead.

But his mammoth effort fell just short as the duo was separated by just half a second at the chequered flag.

However, looking at the big picture, Karthikeyan emphasised on other positives from the weekend.

“It was a great effort from the team; we have come a long way in a short span of time. The car has improved a lot, considering we didn’t even manage to qualify in Australia.

“The reliability has been there and we’re finding more speed every passing weekend and closing the gap to the front runners.

“Our best lap was under 3.5 seconds off the fastest lap of the race, whereas the gap was over 5 to 6 seconds in Australia and Malaysia. Similarly, the pitstops have been improving too, and it all plays a part in the end result.”

The team has another three-week break before the next round, which is scheduled from 11-13 May at the Catalunya circuit in Barcelona and looking forward to make further progress.

“We have a few more updates planned for Barcelona, it is our home race so we’d like a good result and the team will be working towards it as soon as they get back.”