Objective Q2 for Caterham in Valencia

The street circuit in Valencia does not present any real novelties compared to the last circuits visited, as explained by Mark Smith, the technical director of the Caterham team: « The Valencia circuit offers some technical challenges that are similar to those encountered in recent races. Since it is a temporary street circuit, there is a significant evolution of grip throughout the weekend, but the track surface is rather abrasive, so the wear level is generally high during each session on this circuit, especially during the free practice 1 when the track is dirty. »

However, careful management of tire wear is essential to avoid running out of rubber during the race: This also means that we must not only manage the tires well to have enough new tires for the race but also work closely with Renault Sport F1 to maximize traction and provide setup options to our drivers so they can attack with confidence in areas demanding traction after each braking.

Vitaly Petrov particularly likes the Valencian track and looks forward to driving there again: «It’s always nice to return to Valencia. It’s a city I know well because I lived there for a few years while racing in GP2, and I have good memories here since it’s where I won my first GP2 race in 2007. My results in F1 have not been as good so far, but it is always an interesting challenge and one I am eager to take on with the Caterham F1 team.»

Heikki Kovalainen, on the other hand, is less enthusiastic about returning to the Valencia street circuit: «The next event is the European Grand Prix in Valencia. It’s not my favorite track this year, but it’s a beautiful city to visit and another city (after Monaco and Montreal) that will make the most of having F1 throughout the weekend, so the atmosphere during this weekend is always pleasant.»

The Finnish driver expects to face a real challenge in Valencia, as it is not always easy to find a good rhythm. Kovalainen also believes that, as in Canada, brake cooling will be a key point to monitor: The circuit itself is temporary, a kind of semi street circuit. The surface is very smooth and the curbs aren’t really a problem, but it’s always a bit of acceleration then braking, so you need to quickly find a good rhythm to manage the straights that end on small turns, and you have to pay attention to brake wear and cooling. The cooling options we have for Valencia are the same as in Canada, but the track in Spain evolves much more than Montreal’s over the weekend, so we will closely monitor our settings to properly manage tire wear throughout the weekend.

Vitaly Petrov, for his part, thinks he can have a good weekend thanks to the new updates brought by the Caterham team: I think the race in Valencia and the next one at Silverstone could be positive for our team. We have some new upgrades coming to the cars for the next two races, and we continue to see that the gap with the teams ahead is gradually shrinking. That’s the goal this year – to work as hard as possible to fight with the other cars in front and then see what we can do from there. We were closer than ever to making it into Q2 in Canada, so we’ll see how the updates for Valencia and Silverstone can help us gain a few more tenths.

Mark Smith joins his driver on the goal for the European Grand Prix: to get closer to Q2. The technical director of the Malaysian team even believes that placing one of the two CT01s in the second part of the qualifying session is possible as early as this weekend: «With the DRS, I think we will see as many overtakes as in 2011. The difference for us this year is that we expect to be much closer to the cars in front of us than last year, potentially giving us a chance to place one of our cars in Q2 and offering our drivers a chance to compete in the race on Sunday. We have some significant innovations coming for Valencia and Silverstone – we will have a number of aerodynamic updates in Valencia, as well as some minor modifications to the floor, and even though we don’t know exactly what this will bring us until we are on track, we are quite optimistic that it will help us get even closer to the middle of the pack.»