Hispania are confident they will make the 107% qualifying cut at the Malaysian Grand Prix in just under a fortnight’s time.
The team failed to qualify for the first race of the season having only debuted their car on-track during first practice on Friday, and that was for just a single lap.
“We know it is a really bad situation but there’s no point in complaining about it,” Karthikeyan told Reuters.
The 34-year-old Indian driver is hoping a new front-wing and some other minor updates will see them closer to the Virgin and Team Lotus cars.
“When it all gets kicking off, I think we are going to surprise a few people.
“If we get the new front wing. We are reasonably confident that we will qualify and if all these things happen then we don’t have any excuse not to qualify for Malaysia.”
Karthikeyan also reacted to comments that the team are an embarrassment, words which came from the head of Spain’s motor-racing federation Carlos Gracia.
“Tthey don’t want jokers to come in,” he said. “We respect the 107 percent rule. We are a serious team.”
