Formula 1 commercial manager Bernie Ecclestone admitted in an interview with a correspondent for the Reuters news agency that the lackluster performance of the HRT (nee Hispania) team had been an "embarrassment" for the sport, but reckoned the team had "a new financial backer" lined up to improve its standing for 2011.
HRT has concluded a deal to use a Williams gearbox next year, and it is believed the team is close to an arrangement with Toyota to base its 2011 car on the mothballed Toyota team's TF110, which was built for this season but never raced. Such a deal could ecplain why the car has not been used by Pirelli's tre test team, which instead has utilized the 2009 Toyota F1 car.
Speculation has it that HRT's deal with Toyota could also involve use of the staff of the former F1 team, and its headquarters in Cologne, Germany.