Category: Caterham

Caterham takes us back to Jerez with their latest clip, showing Heikki Kovaleinen at the wheel of the CT01. We recommend you crank up the volume and listen to the unadulterated noise of a modern F1 car.

Formula One testing returns later tonight Australian time. The Caterham F1 Team is getting us in the mood with this slick promo clip. It’s all a bit moody for the first half before the glorious sound of the Renault RS27 engine at full noise takes over in the latter half.

Heikki Kovaleinen is at the wheel of the CT01 and in Barcelona he’ll have a new teammate, with confirmation Caterham has shipped out cash-strapped but in demand Jarno Trulli in favour of Vitaly Petrov and his rubles.

In not totally unexpected news, Caterham F1 Team today announced they have brought in Vitaly Petrov and sent the likeable veteran Jarno Tulli on his way. The 27-year-old Russian was at Caterham’s base in Hingham earlier today for a seat fitting and will be with the team in Barcelona next Tuesday ready for his first test in the CT01.

Naturally, Petrov is pretty happy with the news after losing his seat at Renault (now Lotus). “This is a very exciting day for me,” he said.

“The passion and spirit that Tony and the whole team have to keep moving forwards is infectious, and I am honoured to be able to join them and play my part in helping the team mount a serious challenge to the teams ahead in 2012 and for many seasons to come.”

Team boss Tony Fernades gave a small insight into the team’s decision, “it was not an easy decision to bring Vitaly in to replace Jarno, but it was one we made to ensure that we give fresh impetus across the whole team and with a realistic eye on the global economic market.

“I also want to take this opportunity to thank Jarno for the absolutely pivotal role he played in the formation and progression of our team since he joined us in December 2009.”

In something of a love in at Caterham, on paper at least, Trulli was given the last word on the company’s official statement.

“I want to take this chance to thank Tony, Kamarudin, SM Nasarudin, Riad, Mike and everyone in the team for the two seasons we had together,” said Trulli. “I understand the decision the team has made and I want to wish to the whole team the very best of luck for the season ahead.”

There’s been whispers about this move for several weeks and we received a tip earlier today suggesting an announcement would be made tonight, which we shared via twitter. The full statement from Caterham can be read after the break.

The Caterham F1 Team took an unorthodox approach to launching their car this year, by running an article in F1 Racing magazine. That means there hasn’t been any photos showing the car in full that we can access until today.

Here, then, are a handful of images of the CT01 as it heads out for testing at Jerez. None are available in our preferred 2000px sizing, but you can still click on the images for a closer look.

Speaking about the new car team boss Tony Fernandes said: “This car represents another step forward for us. The detail right across the whole package is light years ahead of where we were when we first started out, and we are all excited about seeing what it can do when we get on track. I’m also very pleased that we were able to show our fans the car so soon.

“Our aim has always has been to be as open and interactive as possible, allowing our fans a real look inside our team. By launching the car through F1 Racing magazine, I feel we’ve been able to give our fans a unique first look at where we’re heading and what Caterham is all about. Maybe next year I’ll tweet a picture of the car to launch it!”

An article on the new Caterham CT01 which features a series of images published by F1 Racing magazine has given us the first taste of what the F1 cars of 2012 may look like.

Strict technical regulations stipulating the front end of the cars can be no higher than 550mm, while the portion behind can be as high as 625mm, may dictate that this ‘alligator’ style nose is prevalent on all cars this year.

For their part Caterham has given us a few official preview images, but they don’t give away too much. Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer, explains the look: “The regulations have changed to limit the height of the nosebox to try to ensure that noses don’t get too high. Our challenge is that you always want to get the chassis as high as possible to allow clean air flow to the underside of the car, and what you see on the CT01 is our solution to that.

“As we’re the first car out it is obviously stirring up a lot of debate, but because of the 2012 regulations I think you’ll probably be seeing this type of nose on most of the cars this year.”

Let’s hope he’s wrong with his last comment!

The Team Lotus journey has reached a symbolic end today with the launch of the new CaterhamF1 brand.

Speaking in the final Lotus Notes newsletter Tony Fernandes says it’s now time to move on, “With Team Lotus, I would have battled to the end if I felt it was the right thing to do, but when you take a dispassionate look at where we were it made absolute sense to start with a clean sheet, and Caterham has given us that chance.

“I think back to when I decided to start a Formula One team and I chose to start a team from scratch so that we could control our own destiny. It’s definitely not been the easiest path, but now it is our time – time to take control and make our own history.”

Fernandes also says he plans to take the Caterham Group on a similar pathway to McLaren, where road cars will be the backbone allowing the F1 team to prosper. “McLaren has made great strides in diversifying its business and I feel we should do the same,” he said.

“It just makes sense. You spend all this time, energy, money and brainpower developing incredible technology, what’s the point in restricting it to the race track.

“We want to bring this technology to the people. We democratised air travel with AirAsia and we want to the do the same in sports cars with Caterham.”