HRT Formula 1 Team

HRT Formula 1 Team, formerly known as Campos Meta 1 and Hispania Racing, was a Spanish Formula One team founded by former driver Adrián Campos. It was sold to José Ramón Carabante before its debut in 2010, and then to investment group Thesan Capital in July 2011. It was the first Spanish team to race in Formula One; a previous effort known as "Bravo F1" failed to enter the sport in 1993.

In November 2012, HRT's owners announced that they were looking to sell the team. When they were unable to find a buyer before the deadline of 30 November, the team was subsequently omitted from the 2013 entry list.

History

Formation

The team began as a collaboration between Adrián Campos of Campos Racing and Enrique Rodríguez of Meta Image, under the name of Campos Meta. Campos Racing currently runs a team in the European F3 Open Championship and used to run the GP2 Series team now known as Addax Team. Campos was running the Formula One operation in conjunction with Meta Image, a Madrid-based sports agency, who managed one of Campos' F3 Open drivers at the time, Bruno Méndez. Campos and Rodríguez began looking at the possibility of creating Spain's first Formula One team in February 2009. In March, the team gained shareholders such as Spanish businessman José Ramón Carabante and basketball players Pau Gasol and Jorge Garbajosa.