Mixed emotions at Caterham after qualifying at Korea

The Caterham duo of Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov have mixed emotions after qualifying for the Korean Grand Prix, in which the Russian driver out-qualified his more experienced Finnish team-mate. Throughout the day, Kovalainen suffered with setup issues, whereas Petrov on the other hand enjoyed a positive qualifying session.

For the fifth time this season, Vitaly Petrov has out-qualified team-mate Heikki Kovalainen for tomorrow’s Korean Grand Prix. The 28-year-old Russian driver will start the race from 19th on the grid, whereas the struggling Heikki Kovalainen will start alongside Petrov in 20th position. Unlike Vitaly Petrov, the 30-year-old Finn struggled greatly throughout the final practice session and qualifying with setup issues, which ultimately led to Kovalainen qualifying behind Petrov.

“I’ve struggled all weekend to find a setup I’m happy with and that continued today in qualifying.” Explained Heikki Kovalainen, after once again being eliminated after Q1. “We went for three runs, one on the softs and two one lap runs on the super-softs to help try and find a balance but it just wasn’t there today. On my last lap in Q1 I still had understeer in the last four corners – perhaps without that I’d have been able to find a bit more time, but it just wasn’t there.”

Whilst Heikki Kovalainen struggled to find the perfect setup behind the wheel of his Renault-powered Caterham CT01, Vitaly Petrov enjoyed a highly competitive qualifying session. For only the fifth time this season, the Russian driver was able to out-qualify Heikki Kovalainen, a feat last achieved at the Singapore Grand Prix.

“I’m really happy with the performance today.” Enthused Vitaly Petrov, “My last lap was really good, probably as quick as we could go around here. We timed it right so traffic wasn’t an issue and to finish over a second clear of the cars behind is good for the whole team. We haven’t stopped pushing and the aim now is to have a clean start tomorrow and try and carry over this sort of performance into Sunday’s race.”

Caterham have yet to score their first points in Formula 1, and currently sit 11th in the Constructors’ Championship behind arch-rivals Marussia. With the added advantage of KERS on their cars in comparison to both Marussia and HRT, Caterham will be looking to break away from the four cars behind them on the grid during tomorrow’s 55-lap Korean Grand Prix.

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