Long way for Ma Qinghua to become China's first F1 driver

After joining HRT Formula One Team's driver development program, Ma Qinghua has been constantly hitting the headlines of Chinese media. But there will be still a long way to go for the 24-year-old to emerge as the first Chinese driver in F1.

"First of all I must say thank you to everyone for their support and for giving me the opportunity to share with you how honored I feel because of this opportunity presented to me by HRT Formula One Team," said Ma as he was officially presented by HRT on Thursday at the Shanghai International Circuit.

"I know that I will learn a lot from everyone, especially my teammates, who will surely pass on to me their experience and knowledge. From now on my main objective is to study and learn a lot quickly, I must extract as much information as possible and take in both the most basic concepts and the most technical and specialized ones of Formula One."

Ma, a Shanghai native, started racing at the tender age of eight and won the youth National Karting Championship when he was 12. He continued to race and achieved successful results in karting until 2004, when he entered the Asian Formula Renault Series and won the championship.

In 2006 Ma moved to Formula Renault 2.0 NEC, and claimed the title in the Chinese National Karting Championship (Super Group) one year later. In 2008 he drove in Formula 3 Spain and Formula 3 Spain Copa de Espana, finishing 7th in the Copa and managing two podiums.

In 2010 he represented Team China in two races in Superleague Formula before moving onto the Chinese Touring Car Championship in 2011 where he came away with the title after four wins and four podiums in the eight-race season.

"I've spent years forming young talents and that is why I know Ma from a few years back and I know what his potential is," said Luis Perez-Sala, team principal of HRT.

"Before incorporating him we tested him on our simulator in Barcelona and with a World Series car in Valencia. The data which we obtained proved what we already believed, that he is a very good driver.

"He's very secure, sensible in the car and has a strong and balanced mentality. Because of all this we believe that we can help him in his development as a Formula 1 driver, we want him to test as much as possible and, if possible, for him to take part in the young driver tests this year," Perez-Sala added.

In spite of all the compliments from the team principal, Ma still had rare chance to show his potential in Formula One area.

When asked what Ma should do to become a real F1 driver, Antonio Cuquerella, team director of HRT, said Ma first need to wait for the chance to prove his capabilities.

"The driver hasn't jumped into the car yet, so we still need to know his capabilities and as soon as we have an opportunity, he will drive in the young drivers' test," said Cuquerella on Friday in a FIA press conference. "We have hopes of him and, of course, he's a part of our young development program. We don't know how much we can expect from him but, of course, there are big hopes."

It is the third season this year for HRT to compete in F1 and the team is still struggling to earn their first point with their best finish being 13th.

Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa and Indian Narain Karthikeyan are currently the line-up drivers for HRT and the team's official test and reserve driver Dani Clos is also in the development program.