Friday: a normal program for a correct result at Caterham
Despite discovering a new circuit, this Friday unfolded like any other for Caterham. Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov worked on the settings in the morning before conducting a comparison between tires and long runs in the afternoon. The CT01 performed adequately, no more, and the work to improve it will continue tomorrow.
Heikki Kovalainen – 19th and 19th:
In the first lap we did in Free Practice 1, the track probably had less grip than any other circuit I’ve raced on! Since we are on a new track, it was to be expected, but the layout has lived up to our expectations—it’s a real driver’s circuit and as it evolves, it’s going to become even faster, which will give us a chance to really find out what it’s all about.
In the morning session, we mainly focused on a normal program for Free Practice 1, working on basic setups and aerodynamics, and then in the afternoon, we worked more on tires and long stints on both compounds. We need to work on improving grip, but the position where we finished suits me, and with the amount of information we’ve gathered in these two sessions, I think we can find more speed tomorrow.
Vitaly Petrov – 20th and 21st:
I really appreciate my stay in the United States! It’s my first time in America and as soon as I arrived, I spent a little time visiting Austin and found it to be a great city, really cool.
In Free Practice 1, we had to make some minor changes to the setup, but it didn’t disrupt our program too much, and we found a decent balance fairly quickly. In the afternoon, we completed our first runs on Medium tires, and then we did a lot of laps in the long runs. We undoubtedly need to work on the tire warm-up and improve the rear end, but we’ll work on that tonight and hope for a better day tomorrow.
