Rossi focuses on trying different car setups
Alexander Rossi returned to the cockpit of a Formula One car for the first time since the Barcelona GP, where he competed in FP1 for Caterham F1. This time around, the team wanted him to try out various setup options in light of the final two races of the 2012 season.
Alexander Rossi:
“It’s been a great day in the car and I want to thank the whole team for giving me the chance to drive in Abu Dhabi. I last drove this car in FP1 in Barcelona back in May and it’s definitely come on a long way since then.
“The plan today was mostly focused on running through setup options. With such limited time on Fridays at a GP this was a chance for us to work through a whole range of different setups and I’m sure we’ve helped give the team a lot of information that will come into play at the last two races of the season.
“It’s obviously not ideal that we had to end the session early, but when I boxed after my 14th run there was oil on the garage floor so the engineers had to call the session over. That meant I didn’t have the chance to do any performance runs and I’m sure if I did my laptimes would have been close to the race drivers, but issues like that are just one of those things. They’ll take a proper look at what caused the problem and I’m sure it won’t affect the team’s preparations for Austin or Brazil.
“Despite that it’s been a great day and another step in my development as a driver. The next time I’ll be in a race car will be in Jerez for the GP2 test with Caterham Racing and I’m really looking forward to picking up where we left off in Barcelona as the quickest car.”
Driver: Alexander Rossi
Chassis: CT01-#02
Fastest lap: 1.46.485 (lap 75)
Total laps: 86
