Caterham officially unveils the CT01

After being forced to reveal a first glimpse of its single-seater yesterday, Caterham officially unveils its CT01 and the ambitions that the team will have in 2012: « During the winter break, we focused on a number of key elements in developing this year’s car, particularly by working a lot on optimizing the wind tunnel », says Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer of the Malaysian team. « We have taken into account the changes made to the technical regulations this year, mainly concerning the nose and the crash tests we must pass. The regulations now require that the car must be homologated before the first tests, which necessitates completing all homologation procedures 4 to 6 weeks before the tests. From this perspective, we have successfully completed our development program, our car was fully homologated before Christmas, and, in fact, I even think we were the first team to pass all the tests. »

However, for the British engineer, the key element in designing the first Formula One car to bear Caterham’s colors lies in the technical stability now surrounding the team: « The design of the car has evolved since early 2011. This is the first year where we benefit from true stability from a technical standpoint, and by keeping the Renault engine and Red Bull gearbox, we know exactly what to expect with what we’re working on. Until now, each year, we had a different team of designers as well as different gearbox and engine unit. Now, we have a stable technical team under the direction of our technical director, Mark Smith, and this means we can make greater strides in the design details, and it has proven itself in the homologation process. The construction of the car went smoothly. It will be completely ready for the first tests in Jerez on February 7th. In terms of aerodynamic development, we continued our program in Italy but reinforced it with a development program in Williams’ wind tunnel, which has considerably increased our resources. All this leads me to believe that we will be able to have a better car, more competitive, and we look forward to the car on the track, starting testing with it and confirming what the figures indicate to us. »

Mike Gascoyne later indicates that aerodynamic development was the main lever of development for the CT01, while the abolition of blown diffusers could allow for a rebalancing of performance across the grid: « Aerodynamics is still the main area of performance and improvements. Last year, it was primarily the blown diffuser which we struggled with because we didn’t have it in 2010, meaning we were always lagging behind our rivals in 2011. The fact that they are banned this season certainly plays in our favor. The other teams had so much time to develop it that they were able to benefit more from it than we were, which somewhat reduced the competition in terms of technical developments. But really, aerodynamics remains one of the main aspects of development, which is why we have dedicated more resources to it. »

Most notable change – and the most commented on since the release of the first images – the platypus nose of the CT01, deemed unaesthetic by many observers, might however be the norm in 2012, according to Mike Gascoyne: « The regulations have changed to limit the height of the nose […]. The challenge is that we always want to have the highest possible chassis to allow airflow under the car, and what you see on the CT01 is the response to that. Since we are the first to present our car, it obviously fuels the debate, but because of the 2012 regulations, I think you will likely see this kind of nose on most single-seaters. »

After being deprived of the famous kinetic energy recovery system during braking for its first two seasons in Formula One, Caterham will finally approach 2012 on equal footing with most teams: « It’s no secret that we will have KERS this year. Towards the end of last season, its absence started to affect us in our battle with the midfield. It penalized us in qualifying and in our race position. In the last race of 2011, Heikki made a good start and gained a few positions, but then lost them due to not having KERS. Having KERS on our 2012 car is another positive step forward for us. We achieved our best qualifying, compared to the cars ahead of us, in Brazil, and with KERS we could have even surpassed some. So, once again, we have good reasons to be positive for 2012. »

The objective for the Malaysian team will naturally be to score its first points in 2012, even though Mike Gascoyne is waiting above all for the verdict of the track to judge the real potential of the CT01: « I think we need to wait to see the car on the track and what feedback we get after the first tests. For the moment, we can only work on numbers and simulation data. However, every team wants to move up the grid, and we are no different. We finished tenth in the last two championships, which was our main goal, but now I think it’s time to move a bit further forward. We’ll see what happens when we’re on track. »