General
Race Laps: 56
Very high ambient temperature and humidity
Grip normally gradually increases through the weekend.
No major bumps (track was re-surfaced after 2007 race)
Kerbs not a problem
Top speed can be reached in either T1 or T15 depending on winddirection
Medium brake severity
1st gear not used on track
Traction issues and understeer in high speed sections are mainbalance issues
Race
P1: Alonso (1.419.680 L53)
P2: Perez (1.41.021 L54)
P3: Hamilton (1.41.539 L50)
CF1T best: P16 Petrov (1.43.513 L52)
Circuit Particularity
Bumpiness: low
Overtaking chance: T15
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 -none
Track grip evo during w/e: medium / high
Aero settings: high
Brake wear severity: medium
Brake cooling necessity: medium
Driver Quotes
Charles Pic: "Malaysia will be the firstCaterham F1 Team home race for me and I'm looking forward to whatwill be a very busy week, but one where I think we'll see a lot ofsupport and a Grand Prix that really pushes the physicalpreparations we've done over the winter.
"We have quite a few events that we're doing in the build-up to therace itself and it'll be great to meet the Malaysian fans, but oncewe're in the car it's back to work in one of the toughestchallenges we have all year. The heat and the humidity make driving56 laps on Sunday pretty difficult.
"Whatever happens on Sunday it's going to be a really good week.Tony's invited us to check out a basketball game in Kuala Lumpurand we're going to be at the Pavilion Shopping Centre on Wednesdayafternoon to meet the fans, as well as going to see GE's offices inKL, so we're going to meet a lot of people who support us andthat's a great feeling for me and the whole team."
Giedo van der Garde: "After Sunday I went straightto Malaysia as it's important to start adjusting to the heat. Iraced in GP2 there last year but F1 is a big step up in terms ofthe physical and mental preparations you need to make so my trainerCarlos and I have a busy program planned to make sure I'm ready forevery session in the car. Hydration is particularly important inthat preparation and I'll be building up the amount of liquids Itake on board throughout the week to around six litres on race day,as well as spending as much time as possible outside and away fromair-con so I can acclimatise quickly.
"On track, Sepang gives us an interesting challenge. We haven'tseen track temperatures in pre-season or in Australia close to whatwe'll have this week and as the circuit evolves quite a bit overthe weekend managing degradation levels from Friday through toSunday will be critical, but we saw in Australia that our carperformed well on the primes so we'll look to build on that thisweekend.
"The cars run pretty high downforce levels at Sepang and thathelps throughout the lap, but one of the key areas we'll work on inthe practice sessions will be maximising our pace in the reallyquick corners. Something the engineers have told me is that sincethe team came into the sport in 2010 their cars have alwaysperformed better in hot temperatures, Tony has said before it'sbecause the team has a Malaysian heart, so let's see if thatcontinues this year!
"We also have a really busy week away from the circuit in Sepangand I have to say I can't wait. Last year we had a fantasticreception from the Malaysian fans and I think this year it's goingto be a great feeling to race in Tony and Kamarudin's home. Ihave a special surprise planned just for this race, a new crashhelmet design that we've worked on that I think the Malaysian fanswill love. We'll unveil the design during the week and I'm excitedto see people's reaction to it - our crash helmet designs are oneof the best ways drivers have to express something cool and it's achance for me to show what it means to me to take part in our homerace. I can't wait to get started - it's going to be a greatweek!"
FP1
1001 – 1004: Run 1, installation lap, 1 lap (hard tyres)
Changes: rear ride height, front / rear brake duct blanking
1039 – 1053: Run 2, 7 laps (hard tyres)
Changes: rear ride height, front wing flap angle
1115 – 1135: Run 3, 10 laps (hard tyres)
FP2
1400 – 1411: Run 1, installation lap, 7 laps (hard tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle
1415 – 1434: Run 2, 8 laps (medium tyres)
Changes: front / rear brake duct blanking
1438 – 1450: Run 3, 6 laps (hard tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle
1513 – 1522: Run 4, 4 laps (intermediate tyres)
Changes: front / rear brake duct blanking, brake balance, front wing flap angle
1525 – 1533: Run 5, 4 laps (hard tyres)
Giedo van der Garde, car #21, chassis CT03-05
FP1
1001 – 1004: Run 1, installation lap, 1 lap (hard tyres)
Changes: front / rear brake duct blanking
1041 – 1053: Run 2, 6 laps (hard tyres)
Changes: front / rear brake duct blanking, front toe-in
1115 – 1134: Run 3, 10 laps (hard tyres)
FP2
1400 – 1411: Run 1, installation lap, 7 laps (hard tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle
1415 – 1434: Run 2, 9 laps (medium tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle, brake balance, front / rear brake duct blanking
1438 – 1449 Run 3, 4 laps (hard tyres)
Changes: brake balance
1508 – 1520: Run 4, 7 laps (intermediate tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle
1523 – 1533: Run 5, 5 laps (hard tyres)
Driver quotes
Charles Pic: “Friday has been ok for us and it’s mostly been looking at tyre degradation and balance. There was a little too much understeer in the first session this morning so we tried a couple of setup changes and they seemed to work. In the afternoon we had to change the plan a bit when the rain started but that gave us a chance to run seven laps on the intermediate tyres which could be important for Saturday and Sunday. We also had our first runs on the medium tyres here and wear rates were ok on those. I had a small mistake on my quickest lap on the performance run and that cost me quite a bit of time so I think there’s more to come tomorrow, especially in qualifying.
“We’ve also been working on improvements in the garage between runs, cutting down the turnaround times, and that’s working well. Overall it’s been a good week in Malaysia so far for me. It’s been busy but I’m enjoying it – we’ve had a great welcome wherever we go and I’m sure that’ll continue all weekend.”
Giedo van der Garde: “I think we’ve had a pretty good day. We’ve completed a lot of laps on all the tyres except the full wets and run through the whole program. In FP1 it was the normal runplan, focusing on the hard prime tyres and starting to understand deg levels on those – our pace on that compound and the wear rates were both encouraging, but we’ll have to work a bit more on getting them up to temperature efficiently and then keeping them in that first phase of degradation as long as possible.
“In FP2 we did a couple of short and long runs on the primes and one on the medium tyre, as well as a stint on the inters when the rain started. It wasn’t the intense rain we had on track yesterday but it was still enough to mean we needed to run the inters and with rain possible in quali and in the race that’s more good data for us. It’s also good for me to get as many laps as possible done on the intermediates – it’s all part of the learning process and with full running in both FP1 and FP2 today, compared to Melbourne, we’re in a better position for tomorrow and Sunday than we were last weekend.”
FP3
1300 – 1315: Run 1, 7 laps (hard tyres)
Changes: front camber
1327 – 1338: Run 2, 4 laps (hard tyres)
Changes: brake balance, rear brake duct blanking
1346 – 1402: Run 3, 7 laps (medium tyres)
Q1
1602 – 1609: Run 1, 3 laps (medium tyres)
Changes: n/a
1616 – 1622: Run 2, 3 laps (medium tyres)
Giedo van der Garde, car #21, chassis CT03-05
FP3
1300 – 1313: Run 1, 6 laps (hard tyres)
Changes: brake balance, front torsion bar
1322 – 1335: Run 2, 6 laps (hard tyres)
Changes: brake balance, front wing flap angle, front torsion bar
1345 – 1402: Run 3, 6 laps (medium tyres)
Q1
1603 – 1609: Run 1, 3 laps (medium tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle, brake balance
1616 – 1622: Run 2, 3 laps (medium tyres)
Driver quotes
Charles Pic: “We had a very good FP3, really making progress, especially on the long runs, but I don’t think there was a lot more we could have done today in qualifying. I had a lot of understeer on my first run so we adjusted the pressures for the second run but I still couldn’t dial out the understeer so with the performance gap to the cars ahead we probably finished up about as well as we could have hoped.
“So now we focus on tomorrow. In FP3 we found a good direction to go in the race so I think it’s going to be interesting. It’ll almost certainly rain and I like it when the conditions are changing on track so let’s see what happens.”
Giedo van der Garde: “Qualifying didn’t go well for me today to be honest. I’ve had an issue with a lot of oversteer on the option tyres all day and really couldn’t get them to work as well as they did at the last race and that obviously hurt my pace. It’s odd as the car felt good on the hard compounds in FP3 today but I just couldn’t get the mediums to work so we’ll have to look at that again tonight.
“However, with the car performing well on the primes and the pace we have on the inters I think tomorrow could be interesting. It’s rained every day at about the same time as it’ll be halfway through the race tomorrow so strategy’s going to be really important. Physically I feel really good, totally prepared for the race, so we’ll look at the plans for the race and hopefully pick up where we left off in FP3.”
Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia - 24th March
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Weather
Race: Wet (start), dry (remainder of the race)
Air / track temps: 24° / 30° (start), 25° / 31° (lap 28), 26° / 30° (lap 56)
Runplan
Charles Pic
Start on intermediate tyres
Lap 7: pitstop 1, medium tyres
Lap 20: pitstop 2, hard tyres
Lap 32: pitstop 3, hard tyres
Lap 43: pitstop 4, medium tyres
Finished: 14th
Fastest lap: 1.42.942 (lap 51)
Giedo van der Garde
Start on intermediate tyres
Lap 6: pitstop 1, medium tyres
Lap 18: pitstop 2, hard tyres
Lap 28: pitstop 3, hard tyres
Lap 42: pitstop 4, medium tyres
Finished: 15th
Fastest lap: 1.43.157 (lap 44)
Team Quotes
Charles Pic, car 20, chassis CT03-#6: “Off the line I had a great start and was up with Giedo for the first few laps while the track was wet enough for the inters. The team called me in to change onto the medium tyres for the first stint in the dry but as I was coming in to the box I saw Vergne being released right in front of me and I couldn’t avoid him as I was turning in and there was nothing I could do to avoid their mistake. The guys did a brilliant job to change the nose and the tyres and I was out again after losing about 25 seconds – that’s the sort of thing the pitcrew train for and it paid off in that first stop.
“It’s such a shame that incident happened as we could definitely have finished better if it hadn’t happened. It may have cost us a place and while that’s frustrating it’s also positive to see how well everyone reacted and to see that we didn’t stop pushing, on the pitwall or in the garage. We stopped another three times after that, going onto the hard compounds for two stints and the mediums for the last thirteen laps and the car felt pretty good throughout the whole race. I was able to push right to the flag and without the pitlane issue I’m sure the final result would look different.”
Giedo van der Garde, car 21, chassis CT03-#5: “I had a really good start, really strong and the car felt great on the inters for the first stint. Just when the conditions were going from wet to dry I heard over the radio that I had a front left puncture but it was exactly at the time we were coming in to switch to the dry tyres so it only cost me a little bit of time. I came back out on the mediums and was running well in 17th with really good balance.
“From there the race was ok. The rain that had been forecast didn’t come so we didn’t have another chance to show what we can do on the inters and that’s a shame as I’m definitely quick on those tyres, but the car felt much better on both the medium and the hard compounds we put on in the second and third stops than it had yesterday. I didn’t have the same oversteer problems I had in FP3 or qualifying but we still have work to do to reduce oversteer on entry into the corners and we’ll look at that again in China. We’re also going to work on improving our setup options for qualifying, maximising every run in the practice sessions to help us get the most out of the car on Saturday afternoons and that will definitely help us put in a stronger showing in quali.
“I also want to say what a good job the boys did in the stops. It was pretty tight with Chilton each time but I stayed ahead of him after good work on the pitwall and really strong work from the pitcrew. When we finished I thanked them on the radio, and after the race Tony Fernandes told the whole team how proud he was of the work he’d seen today in the stops. He’s right – the boys are pushing hard and it’s good to see the efforts we’re making in the car are the same across the whole team.”
Cyril Abiteboul, Team Principal: “Having both cars finish the first two races, including our home race in Malaysia, is a fair reward for the efforts the whole team has put in, considering where we are performance-wise at this stage of the season. Both drivers again had very good starts and they were running well for the first part of the race. The incident Charles was an innocent victim of in his first stop was a real shame as that seriously hit his chances of fighting against Bianchi, but the team reacted very well and I’m proud of the efforts everyone has put in here and in Melbourne, in races that we knew would be tough.
“Although the general reliability of the cars has been better than a number of bigger teams ahead, we’re still having to deal with a number of pretty intense situations that are affecting our ability to control the finer details of our races. This time we had issues with our intercom failing, which prevents communication between engineers, our telemetry froze at certain points and the timing software went down which meant we weren’t able to accurately map how the race was unfolding. These things go on behind the scenes and while they don’t directly affect the performance of the cars they don’t help, so we’ll make sure we have fixes for each of those in China.
“Overall, with the strategy we’ve employed for 2013 and in preparation for 2014 and beyond we knew the first few races of this season would be tough, but we’re not going to deviate from the plan. Even though we’re running a hybrid car for the first three races we’re still close to where we want to be and the updates we have coming will pay dividends. We have a long-term goal, one that is built around the whole group we are part of and one that is realistic, sustainable and which will see us right in the mix in the long run.”
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
More than 110 A320 Family jetliners havebeen assembled at Airbus' Tianjin facility since 2008. More than870 Airbus aircraft are currently inservice with Chinese airlines.
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.”
Caterham F1 Team Partner information
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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."
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