Melbourne: The start could not have been more worse for India's Narian Karthikeyan and his Hispania Racing team as they have been barred from racing in Sunday's season-opening Australian Grand Prix for failing to set a lap time within 107 per cent in Q1.
Neither Karthikeyan nor his teammate Pedro de la Rosa passed the 107 per cent qualifying time, with 1m 33.495s and 1m 33.643s respectively.
According to FIA regulations, article 36.1 states that during Qualifying session number one, any driver whose best qualifying lap exceeds 107% of the fastest time set during that session, or who fails to set a time, will not be allowed to take part in the race.
Under exceptional circumstances however, which may include setting a suitable lap time in a free practice session, the stewards may permit the car to start the race.
HRT had made a request to the FIA for allowing them to race under exceptional circumstances but the governing body turned down the request.
"The stewards having considered all relevant material decide not to allow both cars to take part in the race in accordance with article 36.1 of FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations," FIA communicated.
Earlier, Karthikeyan also received a reprimand from FIA stewards for impeding Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.
HRT has been struggling with various car problems in the last few months as it failed the crash test and could not test its car during the two pre-season testing in Jerez and Barcelona.
"It is a huge disappointment to not qualify for the race, no doubt about that. Some major mechanical issues took up a majority of our time hydraulics problems in particular, which cropped up on Friday and couldn't be eradicated today as well," Karthikeyan said.
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