Hispania Racing announced that the team will use gearboxes produced by the Williams team in 2011, following a mutual announcement by the Grove-based outfit.The HRT cars currently use gearboxes supplied by Xtrac but as both teams use Cosworth engines, Williams believe the new deal will extend the life of their power units and he would add some funding on its 2011 budget as well.
Williams CEO Alex Burns commented:
"This is a logical partnership given Williams and Hispania's mutual relationship with Cosworth. Our gearbox technology has consistently proven itself as both competitive and reliable, and hence this agreement will be a positive development for both organisations."
HRT team boss Colin Kolles added that the move to use Williams technology should boost the performance levels of the cars after a difficult debut season for the team.
"This technical partnership is a significant step forward for Hispania Racing HRT F1 Team to improve its performance. We are very happy to do this with an engineering company and race team like Williams F1 which has an impressive track record and astonishing heritage."
Although rumours linked Spanish Eupsilon Euskadi as a tech partner of HRT, now it seems that the Spanish F1 team has turned to more experienced F1 teams for a technological backup and it seems Williams Grand Prix the ideal partner. If the gearbox deal proved successful it is believed that HRT might extend collaboration by using Williams' revolutionary flywheels for their Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS.
