Caterham ends positive test with electrical issue
Despite becoming Renault's most productive team during this test, Caterham have ended the first 4 days of Bahrain testing with completing just 21 laps due to an electronics issue.
Marcus Ericsson, CT05-#02: “It’s clearly not ideal that I couldn’t run more today, but overall I’m pretty happy with how the first Bahrain test has ended. I did nearly 100 laps yesterday and that was really important, giving me time in the car to get used to the systems and start working properly on the tyres. We have a few days now to prepare for the third test and I can’t wait to get back in the car.”
Kamui Kobayashi, CT05-#02: “The team worked very hard to fix the electrical issue that cut my teammate’s run short this morning and it was good to get out for the last hour. Obviously we couldn’t get too much done in the time left, but we tried a couple of things that we’ll look at tonight and be back for the final test next week when we want to step up the performance levels before we head to Australia.”
Jody Egginton, Caterham F1 Team Deputy Technical Director: “Overall this has been a positive test for us and Renault who have made good progress from where we were in Jerez. The multiple red flags throughout the four days hurt us and all the teams but we’ve run more laps than any of the other Renault powered cars and have made substantial progress on understanding how to operate the 2014 package, as well as completing significant long run mileage that has given us a lot of useful data on the car, power unit and the 2014 tyres. It’s obviously disappointing that we had limited running today due to an electrical issue with the Power Unit but we worked hard throughout the day to rectify that problem with Renault and add more mileage for the last hour, so it wasn’t a wasted day by any means.
“Pace-wise, Kamui’s time on day two was the first time we started really pushing overall performance and we know there is a lot more to come, from the Power Unit and the car in general, so we have plenty of reasons to be positive ahead of the final test here in Bahrain. Now we have a short break before T03 but the work continues, here in Bahrain and back at Leafield and we’re looking forward to another successful final test here starting on Thursday.”
Cedrik Staudohar, Track Support Leader, Renault Sport F1: “We can be reasonably pleased with how the first Bahrain test has gone for us and Caterham F1 Team. An enormous effort has been made by everyone at Viry and here on track to rectify the problems we encountered in Jerez and the mileage Caterham has been able to accumulate here shows we have made significant progress. Although the electrical issue today cost us some track time overall we have a lot more information about the electrical system, which we will build on in the next test. For the third test we will be increasing the Power Unit performance levels and are confident that with the improved reliability we have seen over the last four days we will be able to achieve the targets we have set for us and the team before we go to Melbourne.”
Total laps: Ericsson - 4 / Kobayashi – 17
Total T02 laps: 253 (day one 68, day two 66, day three 98, day four 21 (4/17) - 1,369.236 kms
