HRT’s Chinese test driver Ma Qing Hua might have to sit out next weekend’s Japanese grand prix.
According to Speed Week, the Spanish team intended the 24-year-old to drive Narain Karthikeyan’s car during Friday morning practice at Suzuka next week.
But he is apparently having trouble securing a visa for entry to Japan.
China and Japan - Asia’s two biggest economies - are locked in an escalating row over the disputed Diaoyu islands in the East China Sea.