Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Caterham responds better to smoother inputs - Petrov


(Caterham Official) Vitaly Petrov: "I think that was a pretty positive day. We completed 69 laps and got through most of what we had planned. This morning we had a couple of issues with the seating position and the brakes, but you expect that from a new car and they were little things that we were able to fix quickly. In the afternoon we put in a few more long runs and that'll give us a lot of data to work on tonight and I think tomorrow it will be more of the same.

"Physically I feel really good. It's obviously been a while since I've been in a car, but I've kept up my fitness levels and I enjoyed myself on track, so it's a good first day back. One thing I have noticed is that this car behaves a little differently from my previous experience and I think I may have to adjust my driving style to get the best out of it - I've been quite aggressive before, but I think this car responds better to smoother inputs, so that's something I can work on, and work with the engineers on. Let's see what we can come up with for tomorrow."

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: "A very reasonable first day with Vitaly in the car. We spent some time this morning getting him acclimatised, focusing particularly on the brakes, but he has settled in well and did exactly what we asked of him today. We have a few points to work on tonight, one of those being to understand how to give him a setup he feels most comfortable with, so tomorrow we expect to be able to continue to progress when he's back on track for the second day."

Riad Asmat, Caterham Group Chief Executive Officer: "A good way to introduce Vitaly to the team on track. He acquitted himself well today, putting in a decent number of laps and working well with us to fine-tune the basic setups we need to give him so he's comfortable in the cockpit. As first days go this was pretty much faultless, and that's exactly what we wanted from him."




All material and photos are copyrighted material and owned by their respective owners. Use or depiction of images or trademarks throughout this website is for illustrative and editorial purposes only.Images come courtesy of; ferrari.com, mclaren.com, Sahara forceindiaf1.com, redbull.com, mercedesgp.com, Caterham F1, toyota, Sauber, williamsf1, lotus, Marussia, HRT, Daylife.com, getty Images/LAT and AP Photos.