Friday: The Caterham is a bit more reliable

Kamui Kobayashi (No. 10) – 21st [FP2]

After handing over his seat to Robin Frijns, Kamui Kobayashi was able to get back behind the wheel in the evening and was pleased with the reliability of his Caterham: “The good reliability we had during the first session will help us for the rest of the weekend.” Despite this, not everything is rosy for the Japanese driver who acknowledges some issues with his single-seater: “The car was OK but we had understeer both in low and high-speed corners. We tested a different anti-roll bar for the second stint and it was a little better, but there was more locking at the front, so I couldn’t push during braking phases.”

The new Caterham driver then talks about the difference between the two tire compounds: « With the soft tires, the car felt better. On my first stint, I encountered traffic and had to lift off for yellow flags. So I think there’s still some performance to be found in the car. » The Japanese driver is satisfied with the high number of laps completed and hopes for better in the future.

Robin Frijns (no. 46) – 21st [FP1]

The Dutchman had his first free practice session today and was very pleased: « It was especially good for the team since it was our first trouble-free session since the start of the season. » Taking advantage of this regained reliability, the third Caterham driver was able to complete 35 laps without focusing on lap times.

Robin Frijns also highlights the progress made since winter testing: The car seemed better balanced, and it’s clear that Renault has made a lot of progress. He also thinks that more performance is yet to come with optimized settings, even if it will happen without him: I did my part today, and I’m happy with what we’ve done. The Dutchman will drive again on Tuesday for the first day of the first private testing sessions during the season.

Marcus Ericsson (#9) – 22nd and 22nd

For the Swedish driver, the first free practice sessions were an opportunity to note that the Caterham was not really well-balanced: « FP1 was OK: we started with a rear wing change to look at some data […] During the session, we continued to improve the traction of the hybrid unit and in terms of balance we started with too much understeer in high-speed corners and oversteer in slow corners, but we made changes to the ride height and other mechanical adjustments, and in the end, we were heading in the right direction. »

During the free practice 2, it was a power issue that handicapped him: « For FP2, […] the initial feeling was that there was generally more grip, especially in high-speed sections where the balance was good, but I had power issues, which meant that I couldn’t really push. The power came and went in a way that was really unpredictable. »

Unfortunately, I didn’t have a single lap without this problem, so the last laps didn’t really give a good picture of our performance, but we will look at that in detail tonight. We finished with a long stint that started on softs. The degradation levels were quite good […] but I wasn’t able to push, he explains before adding: With 5 minutes to go, I was told to stop the car because we had an engine block problem. Renault will look into that, and luckily, it happened at the end of the session.

In conclusion, Ericsson is still confident: « Overall, the most important thing is that we had a better Friday and that means we are in a better position after FP1 and FP2 than we have been since the start of the season. We have a lot to do tonight, but I feel better for the rest of the weekend than in Australia or Malaysia. »