Kovalainen: Caterham F1 can beat Marussia

Caterham F1 Team was undermined at the start of the season by Marussia who benefited from a car having the SREC for the first time and who can also count on Jules Bianchi, the Frenchman making an excellent start to the season for his first steps in F1 as a starter. Nevertheless, the Malaysian team wanted to react by making changes to the Bahrain Grand Prix and letting its former owner Heikki Kovalainen test the CT03 during free practice on the Sakhir circuit so that the Finn brings his experience with the aim of facilitate the development of single-seaters.

Heikki Kovalainen was surprised by the demanding driving of the Caterham while the Finn had driven the CT02 last year. However, the reserve driver for Tony Fernandes' team is confident in his team's ability to overcome rival Marussia F1 Team. “I could feel that the car was more difficult to drive than at the end of last season”, recognized the Scandinavian on Sky Sports. “Of course, some things have changed. The tires have changed, the settings have changed, and all this makes driving more complicated. But on the other hand, I could feel that there was more potential to exploit with the car and I felt after this test that we might be able to beat Marussia. With the developments that are coming, we should be able to stay ahead of them. »

The Caterham F1 Team reserve driver also returned to the disagreements between him and Tony Fernandes when the owner of the Malaysian team favored two drivers lacking experience. The Finn assures that their relations remained good and that the desire to return to competition was stronger than pride. “I never fell out with him. I didn't agree with what he proposed to me for this year, that's all.", assured the former holder. “At one point, I think it was qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix when the weather was quite difficult, I sent a message to Tony saying, 'I wish I was in Q2. » We then resumed talking and he asked me: "Would you like to come and test drive our car?" » »