Pedro de la Rosa has incurred the 100th penalty of the season, after the Spaniard’s mechanics were forced to change his gearbox ahead of this afternoon’s final race of the season around Sao Paulo’s Interlagos circuit. Despite this penalty officially issuing de la Rosa with a five-place grid penalty, he has already qualified 24th and last for the race.
With HRT currently up for sale and searching for potential buyers, the general consensus within the paddock is that the team are preparing for what will be their last race in Formula 1. Rumors circulating the paddock indicate that HRT have already issued redundancy to several members of the team, as they will close down after the Brazilian Grand Prix. Whether these rumors are true or not remains to be seen, however it’s unquestionable that the team have a rather sombre approach to today’s season finale around Sao Paulo.
Pedro de la Rosa will start 24th and last on the grid, with team-mate Narain Karthikeyan set to start alongside the Spaniard in 23rd position. The HRT duo only just scraped through qualifying, with Karthikeyan and de la Rosa setting times 105.995 and 106.159 percent within the 107% qualifying rule.
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