Caterham drivers thankful to fans for ability to race
Caterham F1 returned to racing this weekend at Abu Dhabi, resulting in a finish for rookie Will Stevens. Kamui Kobayashi on the other hand was driving comfortably ahead of his team mate until he had to retire his car.
Kamui Kobayashi, car #10, chassis CT05-#02: “It’s a real shame to finish the season with a retirement, but unfortunately this is what happened: I started to feel some strange vibration on the car and a couple of laps later it started to be un driveable, so the team decided to retire the car for precaution. Up until then, it had been a solid race, we had found a good pace and I was enjoying myself. Overall, it’s been a very positive weekend and I’ve been impressed with the whole team’s effort – it wasn’t an easy task but, thanks to the fans continuous support, we got here and they gave us that extra boost to carry on fighting. I also want to congratulate the team and thank everyone for their work and commitment throughout the season.”
Will Stevens, car #46, chassis CT05-#04: “We completed the objective of the day, and that was to finish the race, which is good not only for me but also for the team – we can be pleased. I struggled quite a bit during my first stint on the Option tyre, trying to keep it up to temperature at the start during the formation lap, so I had a lot of graining on the front. But the middle stint wasn’t too bad and I was able to get into more of a rhythm. Towards the end I was feeling good in the car and it feels really good to have completed my first Formula 1 race! I want to thank all the fans once again for giving this team another chance to race, this is where we belong.”
Cedrik Staudohar, Renault Sport F1 track support leader: “As with the previous two days we didn’t experience any problems with either PU during the race and were able to maximise their potential throughout. Will drove very well on his F1 debut and it was great to see him out-drag Alonso’s Ferrari in a straight line! Obviously it was a shame that Kamui couldn’t complete the race distance, but just being here this weekend is a fantastic achievement for the team and will hopefully help their chances for 2015.”
