Race Laps: 56
Circuit layout makes overtaking difficult
One of the easiest circuits of the year on brakes
Kerbs are not an issue
Wind speed and direction have a big influence on car performancein sector two, as well as on top speed and through the high speedsection
The track surface can be bumpy under braking, especially in T14where brake locking is possible
Typical balance issues include traction instability out of T6and T14 and understeer in T7 / T8
First gear is sometimes used in T6 (hairpin)
Circuit Particularity
Bumpiness: low (T14 bumps in braking zone)
Overtaking chance: low
Kerbs: smooth
Ride height setting particularity: none
Engine severity: medium
Gearbox severity: medium
Lat/Long grip: lateral
Aero eff ratio: medium
Safety car history: 2012 - none, 2011 - none, 2010 - two (1- 3and 22 - 25)
Track grip evo during w/e: medium / high
Aero settings: high
Brake wear severity: low
Brake cooling necessity: medium
Team Quotes
Charles Pic: "Next we have two more back to backraces, in Shanghai, China, and then straight to Bahrain. They'reboth modern circuits but they put different demands on the cars,especially under braking as China's pretty easy on brakes butBahrain is very tough. Last year was my first race in China and Ithought the track was pretty good. The lap starts witha very long straight with a tight right hander at the endwhich is a natural place to overtake right at the start of the lap.One area we will focus on in the practice sessions is making surethe car's very stable under braking so I can attack into eachbraking zone - you need that and very good traction out of theslower corners to push the cars ahead around the whole lap.
"On Friday and Saturday morning we'll also be working on severalperformance areas that the team has been looking at since Malaysia,particularly around dialling out the understeer issues I had inAustralia and Malaysia. We have a few setup options to try to helpwith that, and some ideas we're going to look at with Pirelli soI'm sure we can make good progress on that."
Giedo van der Garde: "China's the next race andwe're going back to where I did my first FP1 with Caterham lastyear, so it's the first track this season I've already driven on inan F1 car. Hopefully it'll be better weather this year as FP1 lastyear started out wet and was a bit damp for the whole session so Iwasn't really able to push. It would be good if it was sunny asthat would mean we can get the most number of laps done and onething we are going to be focusing on in China is work on improvingour setup options for qualifying, using the practice sessions togive us as many options as possible for the race but also forquali. I didn't have the car behaving exactly as I'd like in eitherAustralia or Malaysia so I want to get that right in China.
"The Shanghai track itself is a very technical circuit. It's amix of slow, medium and high speed corners so finding the rightbalance to deal with the whole lap is going to be key toperformance in both quali and in the race. We had oversteer issueson entry into the corners in Malaysia and Australia and thatdefinitely hit my race pace, particularly as it was impacting ontyre degradation levels, so we've done a bit of work on that withPirelli in Milan and back at Leafield since Malaysia so we'll seewhat we've achieved when we get to Shanghai."
Caterham F1 Team Partner Information
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Weather
FP1: Dry, sunny; min / max track temp 27° - 32°, air temp 20°- 22°
FP2: Dry, sunny; min / max track temp 35° - 37°, air temp 22° -25°
Fastest laps / positions:
FP1: VDG 1.42.083, 21st / MA 1.43.545,22nd
FP2: VDG 1.39.271, 20th / PIC 1.39.814,21st
Total laps:
FP1: VDG 21 / MA 20
FP2: VDG 21 / PIC 27
Runplan
Ma Qing Hua, car #20, chassis CT03-06
FP1
1000 - 1003: Run 1, installation lap, 1 lap (medium tyres)
Changes: front / rear brake duct blanking
1026 - 1043: Run 2, 8 laps (medium tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle, rear ride height
1051 - 1104: Run 3, 6 laps (medium tyres)
Changes: front torsion bar, front wing flap angle
1115 - 1118: Run 4, 1 lap (medium tyres)
Changes: n/a
1125 - 1133: Run 5, 4 laps (medium tyres)
Charles Pic, car #20, chassis CT03-06
FP2
1403 - 1408: Run 1, installation lap, 2 laps (medium tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle, front torsion bar
1424 - 1439: Run 2, 8 laps (medium tyres)
Changes: front / rear ride height, front wing flap angle
1450 - 1500: Run 3, 5 laps (soft tyres)
Changes: front / rear anti-roll bar, rear brake blanking
1511 - 1534: Run 4, 12 laps (soft tyres)
Giedo van der Garde, car #21, chassis CT03-05
FP1
1001 - 1004: Run 1, installation lap, 1 lap (medium tyres)
Changes: n/a
1036 - 1055: Run 2, 9 laps (medium tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle, front anti-roll bar, rear rideheight
1108 - 1122: Run 3, 7 laps (medium tyres)
Changes: n/a
1125 - 1134: Run 4, 4 laps (medium tyres)
FP2
1402 - 1417: Run 1, installation lap, 8 laps (medium tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle, brake balance
1443 - 1450: Run 2, 4 laps (soft tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle, rear brake duct blanking
1459 - 1516: Run 3, 9 laps (soft tyres)
Driver quotes
Ma Qing Hua: "It was a very proud moment for me tobe the first Chinese driver to take part in an F1 session in myhome country, but to be honest I was focusing on doing my job andI'm pleased with how it went. I want to thane Caterham for thischance and for helping make me so comfortable in the car and allweekend.
"We did 20 laps and my times kept coming down as I was more andmore comfortable with the car. It felt like we had a slight issuetowards the end of the session that cut the fourth run short butafter a few checks it looked like a sensor problem so I was able tofinish the session with a car that felt good with the final changeswe made.
"I've learnt a lot this weekend already and that was the mainthing in FP1 - make sure I completed the runplan and don't push toohard so I could learn as much as possible. Cyril Abiteboul told mehe was happy with my performance at the end of the session so I'mreally pleased with how it went."
Charles Pic: "I sat out FP1 for Ma and was thenback in for FP2. It didn't start all that well as it felt like Ihad a hydraulics problem early on the first run but we took a lookat it in the garage and managed to sort it out pretty quickly.However, that problem did mean we lost enough time to miss one ofthe runs and that was important for giving us enough options on carsetup. Despite that we got on with the normal program, running acouple of setup options on the medium tyres, then onto theperformance run on the softs and finishing with a long run on thesofts to see how they hold up over a longer distance. The quickestlaptimes seem to be on the first lap on the softs but I didn't havea clean lap on my fastest run and that hit my time, but we'vecompleted a lot of mileage today and have a couple of setup optionsto look at for tomorrow so we'll look for areas to improve tonightand hopefully we can push on tomorrow."
Giedo van der Garde: "Both practice sessions for mewere ok but we've had issues all day that have held us back a bit.This morning we had a KERS issue that meant we were running withoutKERS for the whole session, and that obviously didn't help, andthen in the afternoon I overcooked it going into turn one on one ofthe medium sets and that meant we had to cut short the FP2 plan sowe didn't use up another set of tyres. Despite that we have a lotof good data on the medium tyres from both sessions and theperformance run on the softs went ok. Degradation levels are goingto be big here, particularly on the softs which had pretty muchgone by the end of the long run we did on them, so we'll have tolook closely at how we deal with that on Sunday.
"We know this isn't going to be a particularly easy weekend forus but I still think we can fight tomorrow and on Sunday. Theatmosphere in the team is good and if we can repeat the sort ofrace performance we had on Sunday in Malaysia we'll be ok.
FP3
1100 - 1115: Run 1, 7 laps (medium tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle, rear camber
1128 - 1140: Run 2, 6 laps (medium tyres)
Changes: front / rear anti-roll bar
1151 - 1201: Run 3, 5 laps (soft tyres)
Q1
1409 - 1415: Run 1, 3 laps (soft tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle
1417 - 1422: Run 2, 3 laps (soft tyres)
Giedo van der Garde, car #21, chassis CT03-05
FP3
1103 - 1117: Run 1, 7 lap (medium tyres)
Changes: rear camber
1128 - 1139: Run 2, 6 laps (medium tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle
1152 - 1201: Run 3, 5 laps (soft tyres)
Q1
1409 - 1415: Run 1, 3 laps (soft tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle
1417 - 1423: Run 2, 3 laps (soft tyres)
Driver quotes
Charles Pic: "We've had quite a few issues allweekend and they've hurt our ability to get the most out of the carhere, particularly with the tyres. We tried a couple of differentsetup options in FP3 and the car balance felt better this morningthan it had yesterday but between FP3 and qualifying the tyrebehaviour changed again and we really couldn't get them to work. Inqualifying we did both runs on the soft tyres but I had traffic onmy first run which meant I didn't have a clean lap. On the secondrun I improved my time but I still had oversteer on the exits ofmost of the corners and more traffic in both sectors one and twowhich basically ruined that lap. Even with the package we have nowwe know there's more performance in the car so days like today arefrustrating, but we'll just have to work harder, improve where wecan and focus on putting in a good performance tomorrow."
Giedo van der Garde: "After two productive sessionsyesterday I just couldn't get the same feeling from the car in FP3and that carried over into qualifying. Like Charles, I've had quitea few small problems in each session and together they've held usback quite a bit. We're struggling to understand the tyre behaviourhere and when the track temps went up today it was like having tostart again with our understanding of how to get them working. Myfinal position in quali is obviously disappointing, particularly asI made a mistake in turn two on my second run, pushing too hardinto the corner and that cost me about four tenths. Without thatI'd have finished a bit higher up the grid but now we have to focuson tomorrow's race and aim for the same sort of performance we putin at the last race in Malaysia."
Charles Pic
Start on soft tyres
Lap 5: pitstop 1, medium tyres
Lap 17: pitstop 2, medium tyres
Lap 33: pitstop 3, medium tyres
Finished: 16th
Fastest lap: 1.41.997 (lap 48)
Giedo van der Garde
Start on soft tyres
Lap 6: pitstop 1, medium tyres
Lap 20: pitstop 2, medium tyres
Lap 37: pitstop 3, medium tyres
Finished 18th
Fastest lap: 1.42.357 (lap 42)
Team Quotes
Charles Pic, car 20, chassis CT03-#6: “For me that was a good race, almost as good as we could have hoped for with our current performance levels and run to a good race strategy. The car felt good right from the start – the setup we went for worked well and I had a decent start on the soft tyres and came in just as they were starting to degrade heavily, came out ahead of Bianchi and for two thirds of the race I was pretty comfortably holding 15th place. Unfortunately on my third stop I came out in 16th and didn’t quite have enough pace to fight so I finished in 16th, but the fact we were able to keep pace with the Marussia for the whole race and at some points be just out of reach of a Williams is very encouraging for the future. Now we go straight to Bahrain where we hope things will become interesting.”
Giedo van der Garde, car 21, chassis CT03-#5: “That really wasn’t a good race for me. I had another very strong start, passing three cars, but almost from the moment the first set of softs started going off I couldn’t find any real pace and was struggling for the whole race. After a good Friday it’s been a pretty tough weekend for me, but I’m a very positive person and this is all part of the learning curve I knew I’d have for the early season races and I know I have the team on my side to help me progress. We have the chance straight away to get back to the sort of performance we want in Bahrain so we’ll look at what we can learn from here and move on to the next race where I’m sure things will improve.”
Caterham F1 Team has announced that it is restructuring itsdriver line-up with Heikki Kovalainen rejoining the team as one ofthe two Reserve Drivers, alongside current Reserve Driver AlexanderRossi who moves to Caterham Racing to compete in the 2013 GP2Championship in the car raced by Ma Qing Hua at the season openingGP2 race in Malaysia.
Ma Qing Hua, who recently made history by becoming the firstChinese racing driver to take part in an F1 race weekend in China,remains a core member of Caterham F1 Team's driver roster and anannouncement about his revised race plans in 2013 will be made indue course.
Heikki's first duties will be to take part in FP1 at theforthcoming Grands Prix in Bahrain and Spain. The Finnish driverwill take part in the sessions as part of a formal technicaldevelopment role he is taking up with Caterham F1 Team, helpingsupport the introduction of the first performance updates to the2013 car, an important milestone in the strategy the team areworking to in the current season.
Cyril Abiteboul, Team Principal, Caterham F1 Team: "After Ma'ssuccessful run in FP1 in China a number of new opportunities havearisen for him and we have decided to restructure our currentline-up. Alexander moves to Caterham Racing to compete in GP2 and Iam sure he will be an immediate success in that championship whilsthe will continue to enjoy the link with the F1 team throughout theseason. Heikki returns to track work with us and we are delightedto welcome him back into the team. He has six years of F1experience behind him so he is perfectly placed to provide usobjective feedback on the various types of configurations we willrun and to give us an objective view of the 2013 tyres against hisexperience with the 2012 compounds. Having invested in Heikki forour first three years of competition it would be a waste not toleverage the valuable expertise he brings. As F1 is a team sport,he will also provide support to Charles Pic and Giedo van derGarde, who are both doing a good job in their first months with theteam."
Heikki Kovalainen: "It's obviously great news that I'll be ontrack in Bahrain and Spain and I'm really looking forward togetting back to work and helping the team as much as I can. I'll betaking part in the two FP1 sessions in Bahrain and Barcelona togive the team my input on the new parts we're bringing to thoseraces, and I'll be working closely with the race drivers and theengineers on track and back at Leafield to help everyone get themost out of the new package.
"Tony, Cyril and I have been talking about me taking up thisrole for quite a while, so it's good to finally be able to announcehow I'll be helping the team in 2013. I'm physically ready to getback into the car and I know my experience can help give the teamnew ideas and options for directions to take on setup and strategy.I'm looking forward to getting back to work!"
General
Race Laps: 56
The track surface is usually sandy at the start of each session
Lots of marbles off the racing line
Elevation is relevant out of T11
Bumps and kerbs are not an issue
High brake energy circuit
Usually quite windy, affecting car behaviour in high speed corners
High ambient temperatures and very dry
Braking and traction instability are usually the main issues
First gear is used in T1 and usually a short first gear is used for launch due to high grip levels of the track
Seventh gear requires particular attention due to strong tail or head winds
Circuit Particularity
Bumpiness: low (T14 bumps in braking zone)
Overtaking chance: T1
Kerbs: smooth / medium
Ride height setting particularity: usually low
Engine severity: high
Gearbox severity: medium
Lat/Long grip: longitudinal
Aero eff ratio: medium / low
Safety car history: 2012 – none, 2011 – n/a, 2010 – none
Track grip evo during w/e: high
Aero settings: high
Brake wear severity: high
Brake cooling necessity: high
Driver Preview Quotes
Charles Pic: “I left China on Sunday night and headed straight to Dubai for a couple of days off before going to Bahrain for race four. I was pleased with my performance in Shanghai and now the aim is to take that on to the race in Bahrain and keep making decent progress before we get back to Europe.
“I’ve raced in Bahrain a couple of times before and won the GP2 Asia race there back in 2010, so it’s a track I know well and one I like racing on. Technically it’s not too challenging but one of the main areas we’ll need to focus on is the brakes. It’s particularly hard on brakes, much more so than China for example, so we’ll look at that in the practice sessions as you can make up a lot of time in the braking zones if you can really push there. We’re also bringing some new parts to Bahrain so we’ll work on optimising their performance as much as possible in each session. This is only the first stage of the 2013 developments we’re bringing so we’re very realistic about what we might find this weekend, and we’re not going to make any predictions about what they’re going to bring in terms of laptime, but we’ll focus on integrating them into the package we’ve used in the first three races and see where we end up.”
Giedo van der Garde: “Back to Bahrain which is another circuit I have quite a bit of experience at, most recently last year in GP2 when I finished the feature race on the podium, so it’s a track that holds good memories for me. It’s quite a technical circuit that evolves a lot as the weekend progresses. It’ll be very sandy on Friday but with every lap that’s completed it rubbers in and the grip levels improve a lot – that’s important in each session, particularly quali as you need to time your run to make the most of the track evolution so strategy will be really important all weekend.
“Coming straight after China, the race in Bahrain is also a chance for me to get back to the performance levels I want to be racing at. China was a pretty tough weekend, but I’ve had a couple of days to recharge since leaving Shanghai and after the race we had a very good debrief and we’ve identified a few areas we’ll work on this weekend in Bahrain. Since announcing my F1 drive I’ve been really clear that the first few races were always going to be tough for a rookie, but it’s all part of the learning process so I’m as positive as ever and looking forward to getting back to work.”
FP1
1000 – 1002: Run 1, installation lap, 1 lap (hard tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle
1034 – 1050: Run 2, 8 laps (hard tyres)
Changes: Front anti-roll bar
1059 – 1109: Run 3, 5 laps (hard tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle, front / rear ride height, rear brake blanking
1118 – 1132: Run 4, 6 laps (hard tyres)
FP2
1400 – 1418: Run 1, 8 laps (hard tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle, front anti-roll bar, rear brake duct blanking
1425 – 1441: Run 2, 7 laps (hard tyres)
Changes: right brake duct blanking
1452 – 1502: Run 3, 5 laps (medium tyres)
Changes: rear brake duct blanking
1510 – 1535: Run 4, 13 laps (medium tyres)
Heikki Kovalainen, car #21, chassis CT03-05
FP1
1003 – 1006: Run 1, installation lap, 1 lap (hard tyres)
Changes: brake balance
1035 – 1047: Run 2, 6 laps (hard tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle
1101 – 1115: Run 3, 7 laps (hard tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle, front anti-roll bar
1121 – 1133: Run 4, 6 laps (hard tyres)
Giedo van der Garde, car #21, chassis CT03-05
FP2
1400 – 1415: Run 1, 7 laps (hard tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle, front / rear ride height
1426 – 1439: Run 2, 4 laps (hard tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle
1442 – 1451: Run 3, 5 laps (medium tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle
1458 – 1511: Run 4, 7 laps (hard tyres)
Pitstop
1511 – 1534: Run 5, 7 laps (medium tyres)
Driver quotes
Heikki Kovalainen: “It was good to be back in the car and great to be back at work with the team. The main priority today was to help give my impressions of the 2013 car in the spec it ran in for the first three races this year against the car I raced last year, and to give my feedback on the 2013 tyres. The first impression I had was that this car, which is obviously closer to the 2012 car than what will be raced for most of the rest of the season, is certainly trickier to find a balance on than the 2012 car, and the 2013 tyres go off a lot faster than last years. After one session I clearly haven’t had enough time in the car to find out how much we could change the handling with setup alterations, but I’ve been able to give the team a lot of feedback that I think will be useful this weekend on setup and tyres, and looking ahead to Spain where we’ll have more new parts.”
Charles Pic: “We’ve made some progress today and I think we can be quite pleased with the job we’ve done in both FP1 and FP2. In the morning session we ran the car in the same configuration we raced in China and ran through a pretty normal FP1 program, using just the hard tyres and working on the baseline setup. In FP2 we ran a couple of new parts at the back of the car and saw more rear grip which is positive. We did find that meant there was quite a bit of understeer that we’ll need to work on for quali, but the performance run time was a good sign of where we are heading, so overall today has been ok.”
Giedo van der Garde: “After sitting out the morning session I went straight back to work in FP2 and ran through a normal Friday afternoon program that included work on both tyre compounds on short and long runs. The tyre deg here was pretty big, especially on the mediums, but they’re coming up to temperature well and that suggests that if we can manage the deg levels this track might suit us better than the last race in China.”
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Weather
FP3: Overcast, dry; min / max track temp 42° - 44°, air temp33°
Q1: Overcast, dry; track temp 45°, air temp 33°
FP3
1105 - 1117: Run 1, 6 laps (hard tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle, front anti-roll bar, front /rear brake blanking
1130 - 1141: Run 2, 6 laps (hard tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle, front anti-roll bar
1154 - 1203: Run 3, 4 laps (medium tyres)
Q1
1407 - 1413: Run 1, 3 laps (medium tyres)
Changes: n/a
1416 - 1422: Run 2, 3 laps (medium tyres)
Giedo van der Garde, car #21, chassis CT03-05
FP3
1105 - 1117: Run 1, 6 laps (hard tyres)
Changes: front brake blanking
1124 - 1134: Run 2, 5 laps (hard tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle
1153 - 1203: Run 3, 5 laps (medium tyres)
Q1
1404 - 1414: Run 1, 4 laps (hard tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle
1417 - 1422: Run 2, 3 laps (medium tyres)
Driver quotes
Charles Pic: "I'm pretty happy with where wefinished today. We'd obviously have liked to be a little higher upthe grid but with the package we have here in Bahrain I think wegot as much as we could today in quali, so we can be reasonablypleased. We have a couple of new parts here which have definitelyhelped us make some progress, and after a good FP3 we were well setfor quali. Yesterday the car had quite a bit of understeer which ispretty much a direct result of putting on updates at the back ofthe car, but the changes we made overnight gave me a much morebalanced car and the final lap time today in Q1 showed the progresswe've made since last week. Now we need to carry that pace intotomorrow's race and having seen relatively good deg levels on thelong runs we could have an interesting fight with a few carsahead."
Giedo van der Garde: "For me that was a decentqualifying session and I'm happy with where we finished up,considering the fact I'm in the same car we've raced sinceAustralia without the new parts Charles has been running here inBahrain. Overall I'm pleased for the whole team as his laptimetoday is a sign of what we have to come and the amount of hard workeveryone's putting in to show how we can perform. In Spain I'llhave the same updates as my teammate and that'll obviously meanI'll be able to compete at the level he is, but for today I gotnearly everything out of the car on that final lap and I think Ican play an important role in the race tomorrow on a track thatwe're clearly looking OK on."
Charles Pic
Start on medium tyres
Lap 11: pitstop 1, hard tyres
Lap 23: pitstop 2, hard tyres
Lap 35: pitstop 3, hard tyres
Finished: 17th
Fastest lap: 1.39.546 (lap 37)
Giedo van der Garde
Start on medium tyres
Lap 2: pitstop 1, hard tyres
Lap 14: pitstop 2, medium tyres
Lap 24: pitstop 3, hard tyres
Lap 39: pitstop 4, medium tyres
Lap 47: pitstop 5, medium tyres
Finished: 21st
Fastest lap: 1.39.334 (lap 49)
Team Quotes
Charles Pic, car 20, chassis CT03-#6: “That’s our best race of the year so far and one the whole team should be pleased with. I quickly passed both the Marussia cars after starting on the medium tyres which held up for the first stint pretty well, allowing me to pit for the first time on lap 11. By that point the car felt good, well balanced and I was pulling away from the cars behind without any issues. We stayed on the hard tyres for the second stint and again the deg levels were good. I passed Gutierrez and was running comfortably in 16th until Sutil got past about two thirds of the way through the race.
“As the fuel levels dropped the deg levels increased a little but it wasn’t an issue. I was keeping pace with Ricciardo just ahead, and keeping Gutierrez behind me and we decided to stay out after the third stop so I did a very long stint on the hard tyres, 21 laps, and brought it home in 17th. I’m really pleased with how close we finished to the Toro Rosso ahead, and the fact we kept a Sauber behind – maybe if I’d been slightly further up the road after the start we could have beaten Ricciardo, but we can take this performance as a good step and look forward to what’s coming next in Spain.”
Giedo van der Garde, car 21, chassis CT03-#5: “I didn’t have a great start but I was up to about 16th with a couple of other cars going into turn four and saw that Vergne had spun and was moving off the line. I tried to miss him but couldn’t and we made contact which destroyed my front wing and basically ended my race on the first lap. I couldn’t really do anything from that point so I just got my head down and pushed but after losing so much time with the unplanned stop on lap one, and having a delaminated right front after my fourth stop, there really wasn’t anyone to race with. From that point I just made sure I brought the car home and used this as another step in my learning curve.
“Despite today it’s been a good weekend for the team. The developments we put on my teammate’s car have worked well and there’s another step to come in Spain when I’ll have the same package as Charles. From that point I think my season will look different. We’ll be on tracks I know really well, from GP2, World Series and from F1, and with the updates we have coming we have reasons to be positive. The first four races have been exactly what I thought they would – pretty tough, but I’m learning all the time and the whole team’s right behind me. I’m feeling really good physically and mentally and I can’t wait to get started again in Barcelona.”
General
Race Laps: 66
Lateral track with high percentage of high speed corners
Maximising slow speed traction is important through sector three
Medium brake energy
Bumps at entry of T9 and braking into T10
Grip level and balance change with different weather conditions (track temp and wind direction)
Understeer is the typical balance issue in the high speed corners T3 and T9
First gear is not used on the track
Drivers usually prefer to run through T9 without downshifting
Circuit Particularity
Bumpiness: medium
Overtaking chance: medium
Kerbs: smooth / medium
Ride height setting particularity: none
Engine severity: low
Gearbox severity: medium
Lat/Long grip: lateral
Aero eff ratio: low
Safety car history: 2012 – none, 2011 – none, 2010 – none
Track grip evo during w/e: high
Aero settings: high
Brake wear severity: medium
Brake cooling necessity: medium
Driver Quotes
Charles Pic: “The last race in Bahrain was very positive for us because that was clearly the best of the first four weekends for us in terms of the pace we showed all weekend. That was a good start and even though it was still not enough to be where we want to be, it was in the right direction and that was positive for everyone. The team was happy and I'm also happy about how Bahrain went.
“Now we’re into the European part of the season and we start in Barcelona at a track we all like racing at and one we know very well! This race is usually where the European races start and it’s one where all the teams bring updates and new parts, so it's always very interesting to see what you bring and what the others bring and how that all works out over the weekend.
“I have to say it's a track that I like a lot. Normally the weather is great (it’ll certainly be warmer than when we were testing there in February!) and I think that with how we finished off in Bahrain it will be an interesting and, hopefully, a good weekend for us.
“As I say, everyone brings new parts to Spain but what is really important is optimising the car for the new package, for the parts you bring. Everyone at the factory and in the wind tunnel has been working really hard on the updates we brought to the last race, and what we’ll race this weekend and at the other races this year, but it’s not as easy as just putting on the new parts and going faster – we’ll continue the hard work on track by making sure we can find the best setup for these parts with the specific demands of the Barcelona circuit, using all the data we’ll generate on Friday and Saturday to put us in the best position for the race on Sunday.
“We know everyone else will have updates, so for us it’s important that we can find a little bit more than our direct rivals, and keep that momentum up all year. We made pretty good progress at the last race, and I’m confident we’ll do the same in Barcelona.”
Giedo van der Garde: “I’ve spent a lot of time in Barcelona throughout my career and it’s always a great place to race at. The weather is usually good, the Spanish people are really passionate about their racing and it’s always busy on track. The city itself is amazing and I’m doing a couple of very cool events with my partner McGregor in the city that will be really good fun. But obviously the track is really what it’s all about. I'm excited about the weekend ahead, especially as we have some more new parts on the car that should help us build on the step forward we saw from my teammate’s car in Bahrain.
“We’ll be running the new parts from Friday and we’re not going to make any predictions about what they’ll bring. The most important thing is that we get the setup right with them first, then we can start really pushing and see where we are in quali and on Sunday. I’ve been at the factory in the last week with the engineers and in the simulator and I know we’re well prepared for the week ahead. The weather forecast is good for most of the weekend, not so much for Friday but it’ll be the same for everyone and we’ll be aiming for maximum mileage to give ourselves the best chance to get the most out of the new parts all weekend.”
Caterham F1 Team has launched “Access All Areas”, the team’s 2013 film which can be viewed now at www.YouTube.com/CaterhamF1
“Access All Areas” was shot at the Magny Cours circuit in France and gives an insight into a day in the life of an F1 team at work on track. Viewers will have a rare glimpse into the lives of race drivers Charles Pic and Giedo van der Garde, and views of the CT03 race car in 2013 race five (Spanish Grand Prix) specification for the first time this season.
Cyril Abiteboul, Team Principal, Caterham F1 Team: “The whole team is proud to unveil our 2013 team film, a piece of work that gives a real insight into what we think makes a day in F1 so special. The drivers have opened their doors to the cameras and, for the first time this year, we’ve been able to show what our definitive 2013 car looks like.
“We started this season with a hybrid car and raced that for the first four Grands Prix this year. We brought some of the new package that is featured in “Access All Areas” to the last race in Bahrain and that brought a small performance step, and now we can show the 2013 race car for the first time, before it races at the Spanish Grand Prix.
“In addition to the rear wing that Charles raced in Bahrain, the most obvious visual change to the car is the addition of the vanity panel on its nose. We said when we launched our revised 2013 livery that we think we have one of the best looking cars, and the package we’re running from Spain is another step in that direction.
“But beyond the aesthetic, our sights will be on the laptimes. We saw from the pace Charles had in qualifying and the race in Bahrain that the updates we brought to that race worked as we’d predicted, and now we have our 2013 baseline package completed we’ll aim to keep progressing from Spain and throughout the rest of the season. Now that our production facility is finally up and running in Leafield, we are in position to have new parts coming at every race this year, a program we’re managing efficiently alongside the 2014 new car project. We’re all quietly confident we can start playing a role in the F1 show this year, and for many seasons to come.”
Total Laps
FP1: KOV 14 / VDG 19
FP2: VDG 30 / PIC 35
Runplan
Heikki Kovalainen, car #20, chassis CT03-06
FP1
1004 - 1006: Run 1, installation lap, 1 lap (wet tyres)
Changes: front / rear brake duct blanking
1104 - 1115: Run 2, 6 laps (intermediate tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle
1120 - 1132: Run 3, 7 laps (hard tyres)
Charles Pic, car #20, chassis CT03-06
FP2
1402 - 1415: Run 1, 8 laps (hard tyres)
Changes: rear ride height, front wing flap angle
1428 - 1442: Run 2, 8 laps (hard tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle, front / rear ride height, front torsion bar, brake balance
1452 - 1501: Run 3, 5 laps (medium tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle
1509 - 1532: Run 4, 14 laps (medium tyres)
Giedo van der Garde, car #21, chassis CT03-04
FP1
1003 - 1007: Run 1, installation lap, 1 lap (wet tyres)
Changes: rear brake blanking
1036 - 1052: Run 2, 8 laps (intermediate tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle
1112 - 1123: Run 3, 5 laps (intermediate tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle, brake balance, front brake duct blanking
1125 - 1132: Run 4, 5 laps (hard tyres)
FP2
1402 - 1413: Run 1, 7 laps (hard tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle, brake balance, front torsion bar, front anti-roll bar
1423 - 1429: Run 2, 4 laps (medium tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle, brake balance
1440 - 1453: Run 3, 8 laps (hard tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle, front torsion bar
1507 - 1526: Run 4, 11 laps (medium tyres)
Driver quotes
Heikki Kovalainen: "For me that was a pretty good session, even though we lost quite a bit of time with a mechanical issue. Once that was fixed we got on with the program and ended up only losing one run and as FP1 started with a wet track everyone else was limiting their track time as well, so the relative loss was minimal. In the session we were mainly working through back-to-back comparisons of some of the new parts we've brought here and it was good to see that the car generally felt much better than the one I drove in Bahrain. The balance has been improved, especially mid-corner and in both low and high speed turns, so it's easier to push, but with so few dry laps today it's too early to tell how much we've gained from the package we have for this race. The rest of the weekend is supposed to be better weather so we'll learn more about how to get the most out of the new parts in FP2 and FP3, but we'll only really find out where we are, and where everyone else is, on Saturday afternoon and on Sunday."
Charles Pic: "Having sat out FP1 I was looking forward to trying out the new parts in FP2. On the first couple of runs the car had too much understeer in the low and medium speed corners so we made a couple of mechanical adjustments and the balance started to improve on runs three and four. Tyre degradation was also not too bad on either compound, but we have more work to do on bringing the tyres up to temperature so we can get them working efficiently as soon as possible. We'll look at that tonight, and how we can optimise the setup with the range of new parts we have here to improve the overall balance as we have quite a lot of time to come from that, and then we'll aim to pick up where we finished in Bahrain."
Giedo van der Garde: "With Friday morning's weather we didn't get as many laps done as we'd like in FP1, but I was still happy with how the car felt with the new parts on it. We didn't have KERS for the session which obviously knocks off about 3/10ths a lap, but we were focusing on testing the new parts so even though the times were ok it was more important to gather as much data as possible.
"In the afternoon session we carried on with evaluation of the update package and we definitely made more progress. The car had good balance on the medium tyres, both on short and long runs, and I think we showed quite good pace on that compound and on the hards but we need to work on the car's behaviour on the entry into corners. Against that is the fact that the car has much better traction out of the corners and that's a really positive sign. Now we have the normal late Friday ahead of us and we'll be focusing on improving the setup generally so we can attack quali as hard as possible, and put us in good shape for the race on Sunday."
Caterham F1 Team Partner information
In 2012, EADS, global leader in aerospace, defence and relatedservices, comprising Airbus, Astrium, Cassidian and Eurocopter -generated revenues of 本帖最后由 maocheng 于 11-5-2013 10:15 PM 编辑
Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain - 12th May 2013
Caterham F1 Team Partner Information
When Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic used jet biofuel for the first time ever in-flight, GE was there. GE’s CF6 engine used a biofuel based on coconut and babassu oil.
Charles Pic
Lap 8: pitstop 1
Lap 23: pitstop 2
Lap 41: pitstop 3
Finished: 17th
Fastest lap: 1.29.362 (lap 43)
Giedo van der Garde
Lap 9: pitstop 1
Lap 20: pitstop 2
Lap 21: retired
Team Quotes
Charles Pic, car 20, chassis CT03-#6: “I’m really happy with today’s performance. Finishing 17th doesn’t really tell the whole story as we ended the race right behind one of the Williams cars which shows that we’ve made some good progress this weekend. The blue flags didn’t help as without them I’d have had a much better chance of overtaking him, but it was still good that I could attack him in the last few laps. The car felt great for the whole race, particularly after my third stop when we went for a 25 lap final stint on the hard tyres and I was able to manage the degradation levels well which meant I could push right to the flag.
“It’s good to have a Sunday like this as I hadn’t really been able to get the most out of the new package on Friday or Saturday, but it felt good right from the first lap today. There’s still more to come from the parts we brought here, quite a bit more in fact, so we’ll work on that back at the factory and see how much more we can extract for the next race in Monaco. That’s obviously going to be busy for me and the whole team, but after seeing the pace we had today, more to come from the race five update and the fact the team has been strong there in the past, I think it could be a really interesting weekend for us.”
Giedo van der Garde, car 21, chassis CT03-#4: “It’s obviously such a shame that my race ended like it did today, but sometimes these things happen. I’d had a great start and was fighting with Button and both Williams cars through the first couple of stints The car felt great, really good and I was definitely having the best of the season so far. When I came in for my second stop I could feel that there was a problem with the left rear as soon as I rejoined the track. At some point the wheel came off so I tried to make it back to the garage to see if I could continue, but once the team had taken a close look it was clear I had to retire the car.
“As I say, it’s a shame but it’s another lesson for me and the team. Sometimes you don’t have the luck, but we have a lot of positives to take from this weekend. The updates on the car are working well, and we have more to come. Our race pace is really good, strong enough to fight with a few cars ahead and my quali performance was easily my best this year. Next up we go to Monaco, a track I know well and one where I was on the podium twice last year in GP2, and in Formula Renault 3.5, so another qualifying performance like I had in Spain, and a race like I had until retiring today, and I think we can do well.
Quick description
Needs high brake cooling to avoid calipers overheating, but brake wear is not an issue
Maximum downforce needed, compared to better efficiency aero package
Very low grip, especially on Thursday FP1 and Saturday in FP3
Track improves considerably over race weekend
All setup changes between sessions are usually overshadowed by track improvement
Highest percentage of low speed corners of all circuits
T6 is the season's slowest corner
Track was partly resurfaced in 2010 and 2011 and bumps were removed in 2012
Circuit Particularity
Bumpiness: medium
Overtaking chance: low
Kerbs: low / medium
Ride height setting particularity: no need for much higher ride height than standard tracks (compared to previous years)
Engine severity: very low
Gearbox severity: very high
Lat/Long grip: longitudinal
Aero eff ratio: very low
Track grip evo during w/e: very high
Aero settings: very high (max)
Brake wear severity: medium / high
Brake cooling necessity: very high
Safety car history
2012: 1 (2-4)
2011: 2 (34-36, 69-72)
2010: 4 (1-6, 31-33, 43-45,75-78)
Driver Quotes
Charles Pic: “Monaco is a great race and a track I’ve won on before in Formula Renault 3.5 and in GP2. It's one of the two city street circuit races and there’s a lot of history there. I think for every driver and fan it's one of the best races of the year. It's not an easy race because you can’t make any mistakes at all during the weekend, but it's also why we love it and why Monaco is so special.
“For the car it's completely different than almost any other track, so we are running with a different setup there to optimise the mechanical grip. It's always fun on track, but it’s busy for the drivers and as it's right next to France there are a lot of French fans and I'm sure it will be good entertainment for them and everyone who goes. We don't have a race in France at the moment so Monaco’s the nearest place to see F1 for all the French fans who really do love our sport.
“It's true that Monaco, like Singapore is really tough. You can hope that it can be a good chance for you to finish in a good position, but with such a tight circuit and so many chances for something to happen it’s something we can’t control so we have to be focused on optimising the car, extracting 100 per cent for qualifying and then focusing on the race. We’ll have to make sure we go the right way on tyre choice and strategy, and then we’ll see. We’ve definitely been improving over the last couple of races, so the aim is to carry that through to Monaco.”
Giedo van der Garde: “Monaco is one of my favourite races of the year. For me the track is very special, it holds a lot of great memories as over the last few years I've been on the podium every time I’ve raced there. It’s a pretty mad weekend, with a lot of guests and fans everywhere, closer than you see anywhere else in the season, but once you’re in the car it’s very important to have a good flow or you’ll lose time and increase the chance of making a mistake.
“It takes a few laps for the car to really to come in and of course for me this year it will be another new experience with the F1 car, but I'll get the flow back quickly and I have a good team around me so everything should go well.
“Monaco’s also a place where the smaller teams, like us, can do something special. It’s a shorter lap than many of the other tracks we race on, and everyone has to run as much downforce as possible, so outright speed isn’t the key. You need good traction to really attack the exits of the corners, and the package we introduced in Spain had exactly that, so what we want to do is build on the progress we made in Spain, show a bit more of our potential, and with a bit of luck we can come close to the top 10.”
"It's going to be hard to tell if our car will work well there. Last year the team had quite good results so there is good hope. I think the driver is very important there to have a good flow, and we'll see what we can do."
Monaco Grand Prix 2013 - FP1 and FP2 Monaco – Thursday 23rd May 2013
Caterham F1 Team Partner Information
As with the British Royal wedding in 2012, CNN also broadcast Prince Albert's Royal Wedding in Monaco to a huge global audience.
Weather
FP1: Dry, sunny; track temp 31°, air temp 23°
FP2: Dry, sunny track temp 44°, air temp 22°
FP1
1002 – 1006: Run 1, installation lap, 1 lap (soft tyres)
Changes: rear brake duct blanking
1037 – 1049: Run 2, 8 laps (soft tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle, rear ride height
1056 – 1108: Run 3, 8 laps (soft tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle
1124 – 1135: Run 4, 6 laps (x tyres)
FP2
1402 – 1412: Run 1, 7 laps (soft tyres)
Changes: n/a
1424 – 1433: Run 2, 6 laps (supersoft tyres)
Changes: front / rear brake blanking
1442 – 1509: Run 3, 19 laps (supersoft tyres)
Changes: front / rear brake blanking
1516 – 1534: Run 4, 12 laps (soft tyres)
Giedo van der Garde, car #21, chassis CT03-04
FP1
1002 – 1006: Run 1, installation lap, 2 laps (soft tyres)
Changes: brake balance, front / rear brake duct blanking
1042 – 1058: Run 2, 10 laps (soft tyres)
Changes: front anti-roll bar
1114 – 1117: Run 3, 1 lap (soft tyres)
Changes: brake balance
1122 – 1135: Run 4, 8 laps (soft tyres)
FP2
1401 – 1414: Run 1, 8 laps (soft tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle
1431 – 1439: Run 2, 4 laps (supersoft tyres)
Changes: front / rear brake duct blanking
1506 – 1535: Run 3, 19 laps (supersoft tyres)
Driver quotes
Charles Pic: “FP1 for me was ok. The steering felt a little light on the installation lap so we adjusted that, and then worked on dialling out the understeer I had on the first full run, and by run three we’d found a pretty good balance.
“That continued into the afternoon session and I’m pretty happy with how it ended. I didn’t get a clean run on the supersofts but on the long run we did on the options we found that we had quite good deg, good enough to give us some options for Sunday and the car felt good throughout the whole run.
“We ran an aero test last week, to help sort out a couple of the issues we found with the new package in Spain and in FP1 we ran further aero evaluation on what we learned at the straightline test. The initial results are good and that will give us even more to work on tonight, and give us more potential performance to extract tomorrow and on Sunday.
“Another really good thing today was that we found a balance that worked on both compounds quickly, so we were able to get everything we could out of both sessions. We didn’t have any issues that held us up, especially compared to the number of small problems we had in FP1 and FP2 in Spain, so that’s put us in a better position for Saturday and Sunday than we’ve been in all season.”
Giedo van der Garde: “I definitely enjoyed my first day in an F1 car in Monaco and I think we’ve made some good progress today. In FP1 the grip levels on track were as low as you’d expect, but it came in pretty well and by the end of the session it was possible to push round the whole lap. We had some issues with front locking and unfortunately I damaged a front wing on my third run, but other than that it was fine. We improved the traction throughout the session and started to dial out the oversteer I had on the first couple of runs.
“In FP2 the car immediately felt better after we’d made a couple of setup and parts changes, and the hotter track conditions helped the tyres come in more quickly so my first run was good. We went onto the supersofts and waited for a gap in the traffic but then on my quick lap the red flags came out when Romain’s accident damaged the barriers. That was bad timing as I was definitely on my fastest lap of the day and I think we’d have been looking at a time around the mid-1.17s, more representative of our real pace today. But, FP1 and FP2 aren’t about the quickest laps. They’re about what we did today which was work through the program, start to understand how to manage the tyres and generate as much data as we can for the guys to work on at the track and back at the factory. I’m sure Saturday we’ll show what we can do around here and I think the tyre strategies are going to make it very interesting!”
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