First Edition of Caterham Notes Out Today

Today Caterham have released their first version of Caterham Notes. This is a magazine that has taken over from Lotus Notes last season.

I'm not going to give to much away, all I will say is that its worth a read, and best of all its free.

Here is a link to the magazine http://caterhamf1.com/magazine/2012/issue1/index.html

You can either view it online or download it.

In this first edition the car is given a thorough looking at, all the changes explained (well perhaps not all). A heck of a lot different than a pile of workers hiding the back of a Red Bull. There are also some interviews and articles about the drivers. It's FREE, read it, you'll find it' worth it.

Ferrari - Desperation? Intelligence? Radical? Or Something Else?

It's been no secret that Ferrari have had a torrid few years for whatever reason. It's also no secret that they need 2012 to be a success for the team. In this short article we look at the key changes to this years car, that may or may not make a difference to how the season will go for them.

We all know by now that most cars look somewhat ugly, mainly due to the noses, but as you've already read (in the Tom Webb interview, if you haven't read it, you must), they look and sound like Formula One cars already, now they've been round the track a few times.

Ferrari have made some major changes to their car, away from the enforced changes that I want to bring your attention to this morning. Have a read and make your own mind up, are these, as the title suggests, Genius or Desperation. So, here, without further ado are those major differences between the 2011 and 2012 cars;

Shorter nose despite longer wheelbase.

Nose height optimised to account for new rules but also to optimise airflow under the chassis..

Switched to pull rod suspension at the front for both aero and weight distribution (centre of gravity).

Extreme undercut of the sidepod, including a triangular shaped intake.

The turning vane is unusually large to optimise airflow around sidepoods.

Very different air box intake, muh more of a trianglular this year.

More normal perhaps is the driver position being much more upright, but this was down to a request from Alonso, apparently, so I guess that's one thing out of their control.

You can see from the picture above what the new car looks like and make a decision for yourself. Let the discussion begin! Use the hash tag #ferrarichanges to discuss which part of this articles headline is the most accurate.

Exclusive In Depth Interview with Caterham F1's Tom Webb

Tom Webb - Caterham Formula One 'Head of Communications'

 Phil Woods spoke with Caterhams F1's Head of Communications, Tom Webb, last week. In an in depth exclusive interview, we discuss KERS, hopes and aspirations for the future, testing in Jerez, comments made by other teams and many more intriguing and sometimes controversial viewpoints.

This interview was conducted prior to the employment of Vitaly Petrov. We hope to have an interview with Vitaly sometime soon.


This is a full write up of our half hour chat, we hope you enjoy reading all about the past, present and future of one of Formula Ones most up and coming teams.

To start with I would like to ask a few questions about the recent testing in Spain and in particular I would like to start with KERS. 

How important do you believe it is that Caterham have KERS this year?

I think it is important for several reasons.  One obvious one being that it gives us more speed.

Last year, particularly in the last couple of races, and I think especially in Brazil, where we introduced a new rear-wing package that improved the efficiency of the DRS system, it was very clear that had we had KERS, the pace that Heikki was running at would have probably given him a chance to fight to the flag for higher positions.  As it was, we were gaining positions at the start of the race, sometimes up to 5 or 6 places.  Getting through turn one and then usually on the first long straight, Heikki was being passed by guys who were able to give themselves up to 80 break horse power when they hit the KERS button.  So, I think in, you know very, very simple terms, having KERS would give us that extra burst of speed. 

I think there is the second side to it as well, which is the kind of philosophical benefit.  Which is, to be able to move up the grid and to be considered a fully-fledged professional Formula One team in 2012.  You have got to, you’ve got to have all of the bits of kit that the big guys have.

At a very big level, that means wind tunnels.  It means the right number of staff.  It means the right computers.  On track it means having a DRS system that works efficiently and it means having KERS.  There were three of us who joined the sport in 2010.  I think we managed to move away from the other 2 guys last year and I think it is a statement of intent that we have made the investment in KERS, as it says, “We want to do this seriously.”  So, I think both in pace and in terms of what it means to us as a team, KERS is absolutely critical.

I absolutely agree with you there.

I did an article recently about KERS and a little about Heikki and how he was the most overtaken driver last year, but it was not a negative thing.  Well that is what I put in my article anyway, as he made up so many places at the start that when KERS and DRS became an issue, that is why I believe he was overtaken so much. 

I mean that is actually a statistic that we looked at last year and I think there’s another point to that as well, which is, the fact is, blue flags hurt the guys at the back.  I can understand why they are there, but when a driver of Heikki’s calibre, and Jarno’s calibre, are racing as hard as they possibly can and then they are being overtaken and being almost kind of deliberately handicapped.  Having to drive looking forward and in the mirrors and having to slow down, it kind of artificially increases the gap between the new guys, in us, and that is probably the last time I will ever use that term, because we are not new.  We have been here for a long time, but yes.  He was making up all of those places and one of the key things is, how tightly packed the midfield is.  And when Heikki was coming up from a qualification position of 17^th, 18^th, getting himself up to 13^th, 12^th and, even I think he was running at one point in 11^th at one of the races, it is not surprising then that as KERS kicks in and as the better aero efficiency of the cars ahead was starting to give them the boost, it is not surprising he was the most overtaken, because he was making up all of those places.  So, yes, we are in total agreement with that.

Heikki states that the car is quicker than last season.  That is what I have read.  Now I do not know how true these things are when you read them, Heikki states the car is quicker than last seasons.  Now that is a huge improvement in real terms, isn’t it, because this year’s cars have been slowed by the ban on off-the-throttle diffusers.  So, that’s a huge increase as far as you are concerned.  Whereas the other teams, perhaps the increase is not quite as much.  Heikki makes comments like that?

Well, I think it is probably worth going back a year as well and looking at where we finished in 2010 and where we started in 2011.  Again, comparatively, we progressed more than any other team in 2011, in increasing our pace and that is because we were starting from obviously a much lower point. 

I think the truth is, this year, we have again, a bridge to cross, in terms of getting closer to the midfield and I don’t know, as I haven’t actually looked at the comparative times with the laps that we were running last year in Jerez.  But I think you’re right. I think it’s quite likely that of off throttle blow diffusers, with the different nose layouts and therefore, different aerodynamic packages.  I think Schumacher ran a time here in a 2011 Mercedes that frankly was way ahead of the competition and then Alonso today I think dropped in a time that looked to all intents and purposes like a low-fuel time. 

So, it may well be true that this year’s cars are slower.  I think Heikki’s comments about this year’s car have to be taken in context though, because when he talks about it being quicker, he’s also talking about it relative to the competition ahead.  On Wednesday, Heikki ran 139 laps and he’s obviously lapping with cars that he’s going to be racing this season.  You know the Williams, the Force India’s and the Sauber’s of this world.

They can see comparatively, how close he is to those guys.  Now, we don’t know what fuel they’re running.  What tyres, but we also don’t know what strategies they’re running to.

So, I think that Heikki is talking about the package as a whole.  I think he’s probably not just saying, “In outright pace, this thing is quicker and the others are gonna be slower,” because it’s a different aerodynamic package.  But there’s another important point here and Jarno was talking about it this evening actually.  After he’d got out of the car, as the detail of this car is streets ahead of where we were last year.  Our 2010 car was designed and built in six months and it was put together for a very specific purpose, which was, can we achieve 10^th place, and it got us there.  The 2011 car was probably a second and a half quicker than the 2010 car.  Built to very similar engine regulations.  Albeit with DRS.  And I think that this car is unlikely to make that big a step forward, because a second and a half would put us right towards the front of the midfield.  Now, that’s a huge ask and that requires an awful lot of spend on aerodynamics and all of the other elements.  But, both drivers have talked about the fact that the geometry, for example, the suspension geometry, the detailing of that is so much more refined than anything we were working with last year.  It means they can make setup changes that they then feel positively about.  And last year, it’s kind of like the difference between walking around in a pair of very, very comfortable, well-fitted shoes and walking all around in a pair of wellingtons.  You can do the job in both pairs of footwear, but one of them you can feel it and the other one you’re kind of sloshing around in them a bit.

So, I think when he made comments like that, he’s talking probably in kind of contextual terms about its relative pace compared to the others, as well as the feeling he gets from the car.  As Jarno actually said this evening, this one feels like a full proper Formula 1 racing car.  And if we’ve been able to achieve that in just over 2 seasons, in our 3^rd year, I think that’s pretty impressive.

Now, on this 1^st test, what sort of things have you been concentrating on?  I mean you’ve got the car; you’ve got it out on track.  After the first few runs, you are going to find bits that you need to look at more.  Have you been concentrating on aero or setup or managing tyres or…?  What sort of things have you been doing, or all of them in fact?

I’m glad you asked that actually, because we’ve been getting a few comments actually, particularly on our Facebook page, from people who are out-rightly expressing concerns about the pace that we’ve been running.  Tests are exactly what they say.  They are tests.

This is an opportunity for us to test out the car, particularly on the first tests.  So, we have a brand new car as everybody else does, but we’ve got a couple of important things here.  One is, we’ve got KERS and KERS isn’t just a button that you press and it makes the car go quicker.  It has an enormous effect dynamically on the car.  It is effectively like introducing more engine breaking.  So, it has an effect, not just in terms of giving you umph, it also helps you slow down more and it has such a big part to play that the engineers have to work very, very carefully on it.  To take all the data that is generated throughout all of the runs and understand how we can maximise the benefit of KERS.  And I think there is a kind of misunderstanding about people, who are used to playing it on Xbox or on PlayStation, where you hit a button and suddenly you can gain a little bit of speed.  KERS isn’t that simple.  It is an incredibly complex and very clever piece of technology, that we’ve managed to fit to the car for the first time and run without one single problem over 4 days of testing here.  Well one of the key bits for us is starting to learn how we can maximise the benefits of KERS and how we can really start making it work for us across the whole package of the car.

The second one is the tyres.  The 2012 tyres that Pirelli have introduced are a completely new compound we have to understand how we can get the best out of those.  One of the things that we were struggling with last year was generating heat into the tyres, which actually was paying dividends for us towards the end of the season when we were able to use the tyres more easily than some of the teams ahead.  This time, on a track that this morning was at about 7°degree C, we were able to get heat into the tyres almost immediately.  So, what that says is we’ve got more down-force. 

First of all, what we have to do is work more intelligently, as you say, understanding the aero.  But really, one of the key bits about this test for us, is pushing the cars as hard as we possibly can, so that we can make sure that all the bits that can go wrong will go wrong here, when we’re not under the glare of the race weekend spotlight.  So, it’s about system checks.  It's about understanding the whole dynamics of the car.  It’s about understanding some of the new bits and pieces that we’ve put on it, and it’s about accumulating mileage, cause mileage gives us data and it’s the data that the engineers can then use to be able to make the car go more quickly. 

We have an aero package on this car that is not what will be seen at the first race.  We will bring the full race update to the third test in Barcelona.  So, again, when people aero comparing times between us… for example, today, Jarno finished about two seconds off Senna’s time in the Williams.  And we’ve had a few comments from people saying, “You know this is a big problem.  They look further away than they ended up last season.”  But on Wednesday Heikki finished point two seconds away from the Williams.  So, what does that tell you?  It tells you that nobody knows what fuel levels people are running.  Nobody knows what strategies or plans anybody’s running too.  But one of the key things for us is that we’re not here to try and put on a show so that we can pretend that we look good.  We could do that.  We could take all the fuel out.  We could bolt new tyres on it and we could make… put in a number that everybody would go, “Wow!  Aren’t they amazing?”  But would that carry through to Australia?  Probably not.  Is it a representation of what the car can do?  Absolutely not, because there’s new bits coming on the car.  So, this, for us, is about tests.  It’s about testing everything on the car and about learning as much as we can.

Well people forget, don’t you, that you can’t do this year.  You can’t do that and you haven’t been able to do that for a while, test during the season.  It’s these tests now and that’s it, full stop, hard luck. 

That’s exactly the point. 

From the minimal footage that I’ve seen so far of the new Caterham car, the increase in down-force to what I’ve seen in the last two years seems absolutely incredible.  I was watching Heikki take some corners on… via the Internet and the car just seems to stick to the road so much better than in the past.  Over the winter, is that something you’ve really worked hard on to try and increase that down-force?

Yeah.  I mean, Formula One is about aerodynamics as much as almost anything.  We have the same package as the Red Bull does now.  In that we have the Renault engine.  We have Red Bull KERS mated to the Renault engine that last year powered Sebastian to a world championship and did the same the year before.

Formula One almost could be… you could almost predict how quick somebody’s gonna be in maths and if we could all see the aero data from each other’s car, you’d remove any element of gambling away from it.  Because very clever people with big computers can take all of that data and can predict almost, you know to within thousandths of a second, how quickly a car is physically able to get round the track.  Now whether the guy behind the wheel can get it round the track, that quickly is not… is what makes this sport interesting. 

Where everything sticks together.  But aerodynamics is the key and when Jenson Button got in a completely white Brawn, which previously had been a Honda a few years ago, and from the first test, was about a second ahead of everybody else.  That wasn’t because that car… they’d found a trick.  That wasn’t because they were suddenly so much cleverer than anybody else.  A large part of that was because a team that had been maturing to that point, that had gone through many years of trouble, had managed to convince the bosses that they should spend the right time and money in putting their… that year’s car through the wind tunnel more than anybody else.  So they’d spent more time and money invested in what makes cars go quickly in generating down-force on something.  So it wasn’t a surprise that that car suddenly turned up and was streets ahead of everybody else.  And because they didn’t have the money to invest in it throughout the season, it wasn’t a surprise that everyone else caught them up after a while. 

So, you know for us, we… until September of last year, we were running a wind tunnel down in Italy.  We were using less than forty percent of the resource restriction agreement time that can be spent in a wind tunnel, and therefore, we are going to be slower than the teams ahead.  From September we started using the Williams wind tunnel, the second Williams wind tunnel at Grove and it’s that time that is being spent on this year’s car that we think is one of the reasons why we have taken a step forward.

Now compare that to the other teams who started designing their cars and putting their first models in of the 2012 cars into their hundred percent use of the wind tunnels, back in probably April or May, and we’re still four or five months behind where they are.  So, honestly, we don’t think that the first real fruits of the investment and the foundations that we’ve laid, will probably be seen until 2013.  Because by 2013, there can’t be any excuses.  We will have had all of the time available to us in a wind tunnel.  We’ll have had the right people in the right places, designing and working on this car.  And, as I said earlier, the detailing on this car, is down to the fact that we’ve got some extremely talented, clever people who’ve been attracted to the team.

One bit of kit that they haven’t really had access to is enough time in the wind tunnel.  Our aerodynamicists, are again, brilliantly talented, very clever people, who’ve been working with some, you know small budgets and working with some pretty extreme conditions to get us to the point where we did.  And I think you only have to measure us against the other two new teams to see how much further we think we’ve progressed than them.  And the fact that by the end of last season, we had closed the gap to teams that have a combined experience amongst them of two hundred plus years and we’re able to race people like Renault and people like Williams and Force India and… Sorry, not Force India, they were probably a little bit ahead of us, but Sauber towards the end of the year.

And if we can maintain that sort of progress in all aspects of the car design, build and run programme, then we should be able to keep progressing.

Yeah, and you could see that at the end of the year.  In fact, it was exciting to watch, seeing you finish ahead of a few of those teams.  Whether they had a few troubles or what have you, it doesn’t matter at the end of the day, you’ve worked hard all through the season.  But also there’s the confidence aspect, isn’t there?  It builds confidence in the team.  It just cheers everybody up to have those kind of results.  You may not be in the podium or in the points, but just to get those kind of results and to finish ahead of the Renault’s and the Williams, it just feels that much better, doesn’t it?  Confidence wise.  Now, going onto the… well, the duck-billed platypus nose, that everybody but McLaren seemed to have this year.  I looked… I’ve looked at them all and I’m not expert in aerodynamics, but common sense tells me, when I look forward at all of those, that actually you have the best design.  And, I don’t know whether there’s been any feedback from other teams or other people about that, but I just look at it and I think, now that… common sense tells me that that is the best way to design the nose under the new regulations.  Am I completely off the ball here?  Am I wrong or have people made comments on this?

No.  I wouldn’t say you’re wrong.  I mean I think your comments are very kind, but I think there’s… again, there’s kind of two answers to your comment.  One is, aesthetically, I think the rules have made all of the teams, so far, bar McLaren, and obviously we’re still yet seeing Mercedes, the Marussia or the HRT this year, but the rules have dictated a look that when we were first… we first launched and we launched about a week and a half before everybody else did. 

So, we’re the first ones that any F1 fan worldwide had seen and everybody kind of took it in and took a breath and said, “What is that?”  But the truth is, we’ve all been here for a week now and the cars look like Formula One cars.  They sound like Formula One cars and they go like Formula One cars.

And, okay, there is this step in the nose and at certain angles, it may not be aesthetically the most pleasing design out there, but that step is there for a deliberate reason.  It’s to increase safety for the drivers, because the noses were getting too high.  And McLaren have come up with a different solution to that, and aesthetically yes, theirs looks more pleasing, cause it’s more what people are used to.  But, the truth is that, I think probably by the end of… halfway through qualifying in Australia, there will not be anybody saying, “I’m not gonna watch this, because the cars are ugly,” cause all they’ll be glued to is who’s quickest and who’s fighting who?

I think that this is the way that Formula One goes.  When wings were first introduced, I’m sure there was outrage amongst people who said, “All I want to see is a Maserati 250F and go back twenty years to that.”  I think when, you know wings started sprouting from more bits of the car, engineers and aerodynamicists loved them, but I think there were kind of purists out there, who said, “These things are not what they should be.” 

But, the simple truth is that to the naked eye, there’s no way of knowing whether one car is a better aerodynamic solution than another.  Though that will only be proved by on-track performance.  So, while I think it’s very kind of you to say ours looks the best, you know then… that maybe because we also… we think have the best delivery out there, but I think also, it’s… the only proof that will be seen when we actually get onto racing other people.  Because, it may well be that McLaren have come up with a solution around the same rules, that gives them a chance to fight with Red Bull.  And I think for the sake of the sport everybody would quite like that as well.

Yes, one hundred percent.  Although, Vettel’s lovely and the guys from Red Bull seem really nice, you’ve gotta… you know you’ve gotta hope that there’s some kind of fight this season.  Otherwise that may lose viewers, never mind… the noses won’t.  Another season of dominance by Red Bull might just… But then Ferrari did it, didn’t they for years and viewing figures didn’t really change that much and you know… So, it’s just one of those things, but… Now, you’ve got… this question you might not know the answer to yet, cause the data’s relatively fresh.  But you’ve got experience now in the wind tunnel.  So you’ve had your car in the wind tunnel.  How close is the data from on-track to what you had in the wind tunnel?

Well, it’s too early to say to be honest, because we need to go back to the factory as… some of the team are going back tonight.  The rest of us are heading back either tomorrow or Sunday.  And we need to run through with the simulation data that we were running before to be able to make that sort of judgement.  But… and I’m not in a position, cause I’m not party to that sort of data, to be able to say intelligently…

… whether or not we’re close to it, but I think the ad hoc feedback that I get from a number of the senior design team who are here watching the birth of this year’s car, is that they are cautiously pleased with how it is going.  And I think there aren’t any engineers here who would be jumping up and down and being quite as… kind of vociferous in their thoughts as maybe those of us who work on the kind of brand and marketing communication side.  But, there is a cautious optimism, which suggests that the numbers are kind of what they thought they would be.  Again, I mean the truth is all of this…

You don’t know, yeah.

Till we get to queue qualifying one in Australia, we really don’t know anything. 

No.  Toro Rosso believe that you’re gonna be a rival this season.  They’ve said that quite clearly.  Who do you expect to be fighting against?

I think that’s extremely… it’s a very flattering comment that Franz Tost made about the team.  It’s a sign of how far we’ve come in a very short space of time that a team of that ilk, and they are one of the teams that we would like to be picking off at some point in the future, but it’s a sign of how far we’ve come that we’re considered in the same breath as Williams, Force India, Sauber, those sort of midfield teams.  I think there are kind of… there are several levels in Formula One.  The top three, for the last few years, have been Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari.  You know Red Bull have been some margin ahead of the others.  McLaren by the end of the season, I think… or midway through the seasons have been able to kind of catch up with them.  And then you kind of had Mercedes slightly ahead of the rest of the midfield and then you had this midfield pack.  Now, the truth is again, we don’t know who we may be able to race with when we get to Australia, if we can race with any of them, you know in outright pace.  I think we were asked in China last year whether Williams was the team that we would be most likely to pick off, and Williams is a Grand E Team.  They have multiple world championships. 

They’re one of the great teams that sport has ever seen.  And we would be honoured to be considered to be able to race with them and be thought of in the same breath as them. 

But the truth is, as a team progressing up the pack, all that we’ve got to do is pick off one team a year, beat them and then we can keep climbing.

So, if that team is Williams, if it is Sauber, if it is any of the guys ahead, then we’ve achieved a massive target and I think whoever it is.  When we get to the point, and it will… it will be many years down the line, maybe three, four, five, however long it takes.  When we get to the point where we’re talked about in the same breath as Mercedes and then one day when we’re talked about in the same breath as Ferrari, McLaren and from where Red Bull are sitting now, many years down the line I think to get into that position, then we really are mixing it amongst the big boys.  But at the moment, I don’t think we’re gonna be making any predictions.  I think we just wanna get out there, see how we can fight with and then go and have a go at them.

Yeah.  Well, you know I really hope that you have a great season as far as that’s concerned.  There’s just a couple more small ones for you.  The season’s just over a month away and teams talk about having updates for the first race.  Have… are you the same being in the midfield to the back either?  Same as those front teams that say, “Right, we’re gonna have so many updates for the first race.”  I mean, to me it seems like, as a fan, it seems kind of nuts that they’re testing with kit that isn’t gonna be on the car anyway. 

I know what you mean and it may seem a little strange, but the truth is that the car build programmes are worked out many, many months in advance.

So, we signed off the car designs and parts that would be running actually back… kind of midway through 2011.  We used some of the parts we used towards the end of last season on last year’s car, cause we kind of had nothing to lose.  So we thought we’d see what they could do.  And so some of the parts that we’re running here are parts that may have been used in 2011.  So, in order for us to push as much possible time as we can in the wind tunnel and be able to refine the tiny little details that are the difference between finishing thirteenth or eighteenth, we need to work back from the first race.  If you take, for example, the time that it takes to build, paint, test and then fix bits to the car, that bit is the tip of the iceberg, cause everything else before that is the testing time for it.  In the wind tunnel and using computational fluid dynamics.  So, we wanna push that process as far as we possibly can, but we also wanna make sure that we can run all of this and don’t just rely on aero.  So all of those bits underneath the car.  So, yes, we will have a new package here for the first race and then we will continue to upgrade the car.  And the aim is to be able to upgrade the car at every single race between race one and race twenty if that’s achievable.  So, while it may seem strange, what you have to consider is that we have to maximise the time that we have in the wind tunnel.

And that if we can sign off a part and say, “Okay, we’re happy with that,” and we know that the build time and the programme that we have to go through to get those bits on the car get’s us as close as possible to that race, then it means that we can spend as much as possible on the wind tunnel, and that makes us quicker.  

We would like to thank  Tom Webb and Caterham for this exclusive insight into last weeks testing, We are hoping to bring you more interviews and news in the very near future.

article transcribed by our friends at www.hireatypist.co.uk - Highly Recommended

Jerez Test Report

Although I haven't been fortunate enough to be at Jerez to see the class of 2012 take to the track for the first time, I have compiled a report based on the information I have at hand.

Before I start, I would like to mention timings. There is a common mistake that fans, like myself have about the lap times at pre season tests, they read far to much into them. I've read on Facebook, Twitter and some forums that people have concerns about certain teams times. Tests are, as the name suggests, just tests. Cars run with differing fuel loads, different set ups, different parts and too many other variables to mention. What that means, is that testing should be regarded as nothing more than the opportunity for fans to see the new cars for the first time. For the teams though, it is so much more.

All but one team ran at the first test in Jerez, the only absentee was Marrusia, who hope to take part in Barcelona. Mercedes and HRT ran with their 2011 cars, whereas the remainder of the teams tested their 2012 challengers.

Following a few weeks of car reveals, the beginning of the week saw a glut of launches as we got a first glimpse of the Red Bull RB8, the Williams FW34, the Sauber C31 and the Toro Rosso STR7.

On day one, Kimi Raikkonen finished top of the pile, whilst the time doesn't matter, what it did show is that he's quickly got himself back up to speed in an F1 car, despite only having a few days running last week in a 2010 Renault. Paul Di Resta , meanwhile was pleased with his first outing in the VJM05 commenting, “A good start to our winter test programme with 101 laps completed, which allowed us to get through all our objectives and a bit more." He then went on to add, "The baseline balance felt pretty good and the car performed consistently over the longer runs, which was useful for collecting the data we need. So I think we can be positive heading forward and the next three days will be interesting as we have more test items to evaluate.”

Going into day two, Michael Schumacher topped the time sheets in a 2011 Mercedes. The top 2012 spec car was the Red Bull of Mark Webber who completed 97 laps. The key milestone of the day was the first use of KERS by the Caterham at the hands of Heikki Kovalainen. Paul Di Resta, yet again impressed in the VJM05. On day two, Adrian Newey was already fielding questions about the RB8, this time it was a question as to whether the slot in the step was a clever aero part. Needless to say, he claimed it was just for cooling.

Day three saw a change of drivers. This time Nico Rosberg topped the time sheets, so it was obvious that second place was more of a guide. This time it was Lotus again, with a lap a second faster than 3rd place. The Lotus was at the hands of Romain Grojsean. Even in testing, this has to go down as impressive. This time last season, Lotus were impressing with some great times and started the season in great fashion, then fell away as their front facing exhaust caused update limitations.

On day four, Fernando Alonso put some distance behind Ferrari's disappointing first test by topping the time sheets. Hamilton, Kobayshi and Grojsean all got within a second of Alonso. All in all, the times don't really matter. What does matter is that Formula One is back. I'm assured that the cars may be ugly, but the still go like stink and sound like an F1 car should. We have no idea what fuel runs everyone was using but Lotus, in particular can feel confident they had a good run out. The first test is over, now it's off to Barcelona where I hope to have someone in place to bring me exclusive news.

Heikki Kovalainen on KERS

Caterham F1 Team have introduced KERS to their car for 2012. This is the first time since they launched as Lotus in 2010 that they have this important system.

Before I get into Heikki's first impressions of the new system , let me briefly explain KERS for those not so familiar with it. First of all KERS stands for Kinetic Energy Recovery System. When an F1 car brakes, as it does many times during a lap it produces kinetic energy. This kinetic energy is then stored in a flywheel or a battery, for example. The energy is then released when the driver presses a button, leading to a boost of speed. The amount of usable KERS energy is restricted to 60 Kilowatts giving an extra 80bhp. The driver is able to use this extra power every lap, at the end of every lap the KERS power is reset so it can be used again. In 2014 when the new regulations come in for 1.6 litre turbo engines the available KERS power will increase to 120 kilowatts which translates to an extra 160bhp. To put that in perspective, that's a boost equivalent to the full power of a 2006 Mazda MX5.

Back now to Heikki Kovalainen and his first outing in the new Caterham CT-01, in Jerez this week. Of course, KERS is nothing new to Heikki as he ran with it in his McLaren in 2009, during the first experiment with the system.

Heikki Kovalainen was the most overtaken driver in F1 during 2011. That doesn't mean he had a poor season, in fact quite the opposite. It showed that he consistently moved up the grid, but due to the overall race speed of the Lotus car he was driving, he was unable to sustain his positions. Heikki for me is one of the best drivers on the grid and he improves every year.

Heikki seems confident with the new Caterham CT-01 fitted with KERS. He had this to say following his first experience of the car in Jerez. “Kers will be very valuable, It’s probably worth three or four tenths (of a second) on average per lap at every circuit, some maybe a bit more, some a bit less." He then went on to talk
about the most important aspects of KERS, “Where it really counts is in the racing situations – at the starts, defending, overtaking. That’s where it will be really crucial."

Caterham had some good finishes last season. The lack of KERS was most likely the reason they couldn't make up those final few places to put them in a points scoring position.

With KERS in place, I am confident that Caterham will achieve their goal of getting their first point. Having said that, I am of the opinion that they'll go on and score a fair few points. Let's see what happens.

Don't forget to read the exclusive interview with Tony Fernandes on this website. Also, if you are a Catetham supporter, you can still read my preview of 2012 for the team.

Exclusive Interview with Tony Fernandes C.B.E

Tony Fernandes CBE

The New Caterham CT-01 Formula One Car for 2012

For such a young website, we are thrilled to be able to bring you an exclusive interview with Team Principal of Caterham F1 and Air Asia CEO, Tony Fernandes. 

 
As Caterham prepare for their 3rd season in Formula One, we find out about Tony's views on so called 'pay drivers' and if they do indeed exist. We asked about the short and long term goals of Caterham F1 team and much more.

Caterham F1 (formally Team Lotus), have finished in tenth position in the championship for the past two seasons - they are also still seeking their first point. They've made giant steps in comparison to the other new teams, in fact towards the end of last season they managed to beat a number of midfield teams.

It's without doubt that many people already know Tony Fermandes, however a little background to the man behind Caterham F1 won't go amiss. Tony was born in April 1964, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He was educated at Epsom College between 1977 and 1983, he then graduated from the London School of Economics in 1987. Tony then had a spell working for the Virgin Group, ending up as financial controller for Virgin Records, this was between 1987 and 1989.

A long way from running an F1 team and a huge airline, he was a chartered accountant (some say the most dull of professions - not my personal opinion of course). Following this, he returned to Malaysia and became the youngest MD of Warner Music. His involvement in music most likely came from a personal interest, he is an amateur guitarist and a grade 8 pianist.

In 2001, Tony met the Malaysian prime minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, who advised him to take over an existing airline rather than start a new one. That was the beginning of Air Asia as we know it today. At the point Tony took it over, it was loosing money hand over fist. Tony has an eye for potential success and sunk every penny into this new venture. What made his Air Asia success more remarkable was that he began just after September 11th 2001, a time when no one wanted to fly. Tony modelled Air Asia on the worlds most successful 'no frills' airline, Ryan Air from Ireland. Air Asia went from strength to strength under the stewardship of Tony Fernandes.

Tony has various other business interests, such as Tune Hotels and English Premier League Club, Queens Park Rangers.

We jump now to the present and Caterham F1. Any formula one fan will know the story. In 2010, Tony Fermandes became Team Principal of new Formula One team 'Lotus Racing'. In their first season they managed to beat their immediate rivals, finishing ahead of the other two new teams. In the second season they finished in the same position, however this time they improved enough to challenge the midfield by the end of 2011.

Tony has assembled a top class team at Caterham F1, including the experienced Mike Gascoigne who has been in Formula One since 1989, when he worked at McLaren. Along with everyone at the factory and those at the track on race weekend, Caterham certainly have the ingredients to go to the very top one day.

Now it's time for the interview you've been waiting for. It may be short but it has some interesting insights into the mind of a hugely successful and intelligent man. Enjoy!

For the first 3 seasons you've kept the same drivers and have improved every season. I recently wrote an article on so called 'pay drivers', it seems you took the decision to go for talent rather than a financial package. In your opinion are purported 'pay drivers' good or bad for F1? And why?

That is an excellent question but I think one that needs rephrasing. From the earliest days of F1 there have been drivers who have been employed purely on their talent, and there have been drivers who have had the backing of a family, a company or very, very good friends! Today, there is not a ‘pay driver’ on the grid who is not also supremely talented, but i am not sure the same was true 50 years ago. The 21st century ‘pay driver’ is a very different proposition from his old-school counterpart, so I think it is somewhat unfair to use the term ‘pay-driver’ in 2012 – all the drivers on the grid now are incredibly fit, dedicated, brilliant racers – some have backing, some had a bit of luck that maybe the others didn’t have early in their careers, but they are all light years ahead of us mere mortals in terms of their talent.

From the very early days of our team we decided to employ the two best drivers we could find, irrespective of what financial backing they had, and the pairing of Heikki and Jarno have repaid that investment in one very simple way – they raced the cars designed, built and maintained by the team into positions that earned us tenth place in our first two seasons, giving us Column One status with the financial rewards that brings. Neither of our drivers were, are or will be for a few seasons to come, in a position to win a drivers’ title, so for us all our focus is on climbing up the constructor’s championship. With that in mind, we have to continue to employ the best driving talent we can find, and we have to balance that against our financial resources. In the driver’s market now there are people out there who are both talented and have financial backing, so for us not to consider those options would be bad business. Without a sound business plan the sport would fail, so for most of us on the grid, the 21st century pay driver is a good thing as they bring both talent and a revenue stream that otherwise would not exist.

I've predicted that you'll get some points this season, in fact I've said that you'll finish above Sauber. What is the likelihood of me being right?

I don’t want to make any predictions about the season ahead, particularly if you are asking me to say we will beat one of the teams that has been established as long as Sauber. What I will say is that I want us to score a point. It is our third year, we made good progress in 2010 and 2011 and the natural next step is to score our first point. (Editor - I am sure you will, you deserve at least that) When we have done that let’s see where we are, and who is around us.

What is the ultimate aim for Caterham F1?

Ultimately, many years down the line, it is to win championships. Until then, i want us to grow at a sustainable rate, remain open, honest and fan-friendly, shake up the establishment in the right areas, and love going racing. If we can do that the journey to ultimate success will be a happy one, and that is what really counts.

It's common knowledge that fighting to move up the grid is difficult. The front runners seem to come out with new ideas for upgrades. You then have to figure out what they did to gain some valuable tenths. Is it frustrating when this happens?

Not any more than any other team does. We don’t spend our time worrying about what special bit has gone on the cars ahead as we are too focused on our own little family, but we do take a look at innovations that might make us quicker without diverting resources. However, i do think it is important to say that I think that 99% of the technical debates are an utter waste of time for the people who really count – the fans. One engineering team comes out with a brand new way around a grey area in the rules and then we all go off and spend time and money looking at it, but does it make the show any better for the fans? Did the double diffuser attract more viewers on TV? Did off-throttle blown diffusers make kids go to bed at night dreaming of becoming World Champion? No. I think that is an area the sport needs to look at to make sure we spend money on innovations that both improve the show, and, even more importantly, bring benefits to the wider global community. Energy recovery systems are a good thing – if we can help make automobiles more efficient then that is to be applauded, so let’s focus the incredible minds we have access to on ideas that will provide wider benefits to all.

If you could have any 2 drivers from formula one's history, racing for Caterham F1, who would they be?

I’d like to see how Heikki Kovalainen fares against Mika Hakkinen. Two Finns would be, almost literally, cool

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I would personally like to thank Tony for his time. It has been a pleasure dealing with you. Good luck for the coming season.

Since this article was written, Caterham F1 have taken to the track in their 2012 car, the CT-01. They finished the first days testing with a time of 1:23.178 with Heikki Kovalainen at the wheel. Heikki had this to say about his first run in the new car, “We were first out on track this morning and the early feeling I had from the car was good. It’s far too early to tell how much we’ve progressed but it already feels like we’re going in the right direction." This seems like a good positive start to me.