Friday: Caterham successfully evaluates new parts

Heikki Kovalainen – 19th and 20th:

« For me, the day went well. In the first session, I was able to test some of the new parts we brought here and then make comparisons in the afternoon while trying the soft tires on both long and short stints. The key to unlocking the potential of the improvements is finding the right settings, and with the number of laps we completed in FP1 and FP2, we have gathered enough data to allow us to find something that works tomorrow. There is a long night ahead of us, but everyone is working harder than ever to enable us to make progress, and hopefully, we will see the result tomorrow. »

Vitaly Petrov – 19th [Free Practice 2]:

I stayed seated during free practice 1 and I saw how hard the team was working to solve the electrical problem that disrupted Giedo’s session. Everything was sorted for the start of free practice 2, so we were able to start our program right away. On my first stint, we had some handling issues and made a few mechanical adjustments, and we immediately saw an improvement on the second stint. When we put on the soft tires, we were going faster on each lap, and I think we found the right balance here. We have a lot of data thanks to all the laps we completed today with both types of tires, so even with this morning’s problem, we completed the planned program, and our setup is good for the rest of the weekend.

Giedo van der Garde – 24th [Free Practice 1]:

« It was clearly a frustrating session, but these kinds of things sometimes happen. As soon as I went out for my installation lap, I could hear that the engine was making a different noise compared to my previous tests. From what I understand, the problem seems to be electrical. It’s a shame because it’s a track I know well and it would have helped to run to make comparisons with the improvements on Heikki’s car, but I still have the first two days of the young drivers’ tests next week, so that’s what I’m going to focus on now. »