Are you guys excited about the upcoming Formula One season? Critics may argue that the series has lost its luster but in my honest opinion, with so many former World Champions on the grid this season and the fact that the current crop of drivers had shown some exciting driving last season, this season could be the season to remember.
Heikki Kovalainen had a run around on Circuito de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain yesterday completing a total of 31 laps with a best lap of 1.26.035 seconds.
The second driver, the newly signed Vitaly Petrov of Russia watched at the pits while Heikki powers the new CT01#2 car. The Russian brings Sibur, the largest petrochemical company in Russia and eastern Europe, as a sponsor for the team.
The CT01 chassis retains the theme colour of its previous incarnation, Team Lotus F1. Airasia boss and Caterham F1 team principal, Tony Fernandes as well as Mark Gascoyne, the team's Chief Technical Officer are excited about the development of the car and the team as a whole eventhough they had some minor technical problems during the testing session.
Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: “We had a rear track rod failure on Heikki’s third run this morning which brought him to a halt on track. As soon as we had the car back in the garage we identified the issue and managed to fix it on site, and we have more parts coming out tonight to make sure we don’t have the same problem again. We know that this car is fundamentally reliable, so the aim for the next three days is to complete the plan for this test and put ourselves back on schedule.”
Heikki was also optimistic despite the minor problem. Heikki Kovalainen: “That obviously wasn’t how we wanted day one here to go, but that’s what testing is for – pushing everything to the limit to make sure we get rid of the problems before we get to the first race. It’s hard to learn a lot from limited laps, but I’m back in the car on Friday and I’m sure we’ll be able to push on with the program between now and then and make sure we get as much as we can out of the next three days on track.”
We wish all the best to Caterham F1 in the coming opener at Albert Park in Melbourne. After the Australian opening round, it would be off to Sepang International Circuit in 23, 24 and 25 March (my birthday is that weekend
).To end this post, here's the team's official video of the 2012 car running through its paces.
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Photos and video are by Caterham F1.
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