HRT stopped cars for safety reasons

Narain Karthikeyan retired from the race after 15 laps, the Indian's car having high water temperatures. He was advised to stop before the problem got more serious.

Team-mate Tonio Liuzzi stopped because of safety reasons, as the rear of his car was unstable.

Kolles said, however, that the team had reasons to be pleased considering it was the first time they took part in a race this year.

"We stopped both cars just to be safe," said Kolles. "Narain's car had very high water temperatures so we advised him to stop. Tonio was close to the finish the race and felt an unstable rear.

"We pitted the car twice to check the problem and found out that there was a damage on the rear wing so we decided to stop just for safety reasons.

"Overall it wasn't a bad day considering this was our first proper race and our first chance to test the car in a race situation.

"There were no major issues so we need to try and improve for the next race in China where we hope to finish. Our lap times were not bad compared to the front runners, this shows there is some light at the end of the tunnel."