Saturday: issues with tires and traffic at Caterham
The Caterham F1 team saw its two drivers being outpaced by the two Marussia drivers at the end of the United States Grand Prix qualifying, notably because Petrov and Kovalainen failed to effectively exploit their tires and manage traffic to secure a clear lap.
Vitaly Petrov – 20th and 21st:
« The qualifying session clearly did not go as we hoped. I had traffic issues on every lap and couldn’t get a good lap in, but even without that we’ve struggled with the tires here since the beginning of the weekend and that showed today. It was bad timing for us when the HRT stopped on the track because Heikki and I were on our fastest laps, but you can’t plan for these things so we have to put today behind us and hope we will be better tomorrow. »
Heikki Kovalainen – 21st and 22nd:
« We were not at the level today, it’s really that simple. We went with a plan that didn’t work and unfortunately, Vitaly and I couldn’t heat up the tires to get the best out of them, or manage the traffic to have a clear lap. Tomorrow will be another day, so we need to pull ourselves together and deliver a better performance in the race tomorrow. »
