Kovalainen hindered by DRS issues as Petrov struggles in qualifying

Heikki Kovalainen’s qualifying effort was hindered by a DRS issue during qualifying for tomorrow’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, whilst the Finn’s team-mate Vitaly Petrov struggled throughout the duration of the session. This saw the Caterham duo qualify 19th and 21st for the race, with the Marussia of Charles Pic splitting the pair.

Vitaly Petrov in particular suffered a rather uncompetitive qualifying session for the Caterham outfit, after struggling during the third and final practice session earlier in the day. This saw the Russian driver test several setups on his car, however once the qualifying hour began, Petrov once again found himself struggling with the balance of his car around the Yas Marina circuit.

“Honestly I’m a little bit disappointed with where I’ve ended up in quali today because I thought the car would be a bit quicker than it was.” Explained a disheartened Vitaly Petrov, “We had a slightly tricky FP3 and tried a couple of setup options to find a good balance and when I went out for my first run in Q1 it didn’t really feel like I could push. It felt better on the softs and on my fastest lap I was looking good up to turn 17 but a bit of traffic after that held me up just enough to cost me time.”

Whilst Vitaly Petrov struggled in his machine, Heikki Kovalainen was suffering from an issue on his DRS. This meant that the Finn was at a severe disadvantage through the high speed corners, and saw him only just qualify ahead of rookie Charles Pic in the Marussia. Despite a tough day at the office for the Caterham duo, they are both confident ahead of tomorrow’s race.

“My first run on the medium tyres was ok but on the second run on the softs I had a problem with the DRS that meant I wasn’t able to really attack the high speed corners and that cost me a bit of time.” Said Heikki Kovalainen, “Despite that I think we’re looking ok for tomorrow. The balance feels better with the lower track temperatures we had for quali and that’ll most likely be the same tomorrow for the race, so hopefully I can have another good start and see how hard we can push the cars ahead.”

Once again the Toro Rossos were the nearest of the midfield teams to Caterham during the qualifying hour, and both Kovalainen and Petrov will be eager to push to Faenza-based outfit during the race. With Caterham still striving to recapture 10th in the Constructors’ Championship from Marussia, a competitive end to the season is imperative for the Leafield-based outfit.

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