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HRT boss admits financial problems

HRT staff pack things away after the cars failed to make the grand at Melbourne © Sutton Images

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HRT owner Jose Ramon Carabante has admitted his team's failure to qualify for the Australian Grand Prix was down to financial problems, insisting: "If we had the budget of the other teams, we would have come to the first race of the season with 3,000 kilometres under the belt."

HRT failed to qualify under the 107% rule, but despite that Carabante bullishly predicted that by May it would be beating the other 2010 newcomers Lotus and Virgin.

"Like last year, we began the development of the car too late due to the budget," he told Cadena Ser radio. "We were closing [sponsor] agreements that in the end did not come." He added a technical deal regarding 2011 with Toyota was "broken" at a late stage: "So we set a realistic goal with the budget that we had."

Revealing that HRT's budget for this year is €45 million, he said the team's showing in Australia was an achievement. "We did 11 laps with Liuzzi. If he had done 20, he would have qualified. Getting within 1.7 seconds without driving hardly at all is a miracle."

The team plans to have its 2011-spec front nose on the car in Malaysia, and Carabante said a whole "new aerodynamic package" will be fitted for May's Spanish Grand Prix. "It will be enough to be ahead of Lotus and Virgin," he said. "Last year we were in a worse condition than now and we ended up ahead of Virgin with twice our budget, and behind Lotus due only to one accident."

He also reacted to the strong criticisms of HRT, noting he had "not read a single criticism of Virgin in the English press".

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