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Kolles expects performance boost in 2011

Colin Kolles: "We are working to have a better package than last year" © Sutton Images

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HRT boss Colin Kolles is confident his team can up its performance for the 2011 season, even though it is still unclear who will develop its new chassis.

HRT fell out with chassis constructor Dallara this year and has since had Toyota Motorsport GmbH pull out of a deal to develop its car for 2011. However, the team insists that a new car is being developed and Kolles is confident the team has learnt from the mistakes it made last season.

When asked by HRT's press officer what the "actual situation of the team" is, Kolles responded: "We are working to have a better package than last year [2010]. From my point of view, the season was not as good as we would have liked it to be in terms of performance and this has to improve. Obviously this depends on a lot of factors but we are working to achieve our goals."

He is also confident that a new deal to use a Williams gearbox will help improve performance. "It cannot be wrong to have a package which proved to be on a regular basis in Q3 in qualifying," Kolles said.

HRT owner Jose Ramon Carabante said this week that the 2011 car is being built "in Germany and in England", leading to speculation that Oxfordshire-based Formtech, which worked closely with Super Aguri, is behind the project.

Formtech supplies composites to F1 teams including Renault, Lotus and Toro Rosso, but has also built and run a F1 chassis to current specifications based on the 2006 Super Aguri.

Formtech boss Mark Preston, who after serving as Super Aguri's technical boss acquired the assets of the failed team along with German investors, said: "Formtech ... would fit perfectly with Hispania to provide the resources they might need. If we were able to launch Super Aguri in just 100 days, then almost anything is possible."

Looking back at the last season, Kolles insisted that the 2010 car was not as bad as it appeared. Despite no major aerodynamic developments over the course of the year, Kolles said HRT missed out on the coveted 10th place in the constructors' championship due to the inexperience of its drivers - who he swapped in and out of the team at late notice depending on how much sponsorship money they could bring.

"It was a difficult year but we were the most reliable new team," he said. "I think the only reason why we did not finish 10th is that teams like Lotus and Virgin had more experienced drivers during the whole season. I think that in testing we showed quite a good performance in relation to the other new teams.

"We improved over the season. Reliability was the first objective. We learnt a lot and hope that from now on we can concentrate more on improving the performance."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.