The Caterham F1 Team has released official photos of its new 2012 challenger, the Renault-powered CT01, designed by a group of engineers led by veteran Mike Gascoyne.
The Caterham team was known as Team Lotus until the beginning of the new year. It is still owned by Tony Fernandes, CEO of AirAsia.
Note: The photos were enhanced to see the details of the car.
“It's the first year of real stability for us on the technical side, and by keeping the Renault Sport F1 engine and Red Bull Technology gearbox, we know exactly what we're working with and what we can expect,” said Gascoyne.
The veteran designer mentioned that he was very pleased to rely on a very stable design team under new Technical Director Mark Smith.
“The CT01 build has gone very smoothly,” Gascoyne added.
“The car will be completely ready for the first test in Jerez on February 7th. In terms of aerodynamic development, we've continued our programme in Italy but have augmented that with a development programme in the Williams wind tunnel, which has significantly increased our resources,” he said.
Gascoyne is also happy that the car will finally benefit from the addition of the KERS.
“It's no secret that we'll have KERS on the car this year. Towards the end of last year it really started to affect us racing with the midfield cars. It hurt us in qualifying and in our eventual race positions,” the Brit explained.
The Caterham CT01 features a platypus-style nose that caused quite a stir when the first photos started the appear on the web.
“Yes, well the regulations have changed to limit the height of the nose box to try to ensure that noses don't get too high,” Gascoyne said.
“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,” the engineer added.
The Caterham team was known as Team Lotus until the beginning of the new year. It is still owned by Tony Fernandes, CEO of AirAsia.
Note: The photos were enhanced to see the details of the car.
 |
| Photo: Caterham F1 Team |
“It's the first year of real stability for us on the technical side, and by keeping the Renault Sport F1 engine and Red Bull Technology gearbox, we know exactly what we're working with and what we can expect,” said Gascoyne.
The veteran designer mentioned that he was very pleased to rely on a very stable design team under new Technical Director Mark Smith.
“The CT01 build has gone very smoothly,” Gascoyne added.
“The car will be completely ready for the first test in Jerez on February 7th. In terms of aerodynamic development, we've continued our programme in Italy but have augmented that with a development programme in the Williams wind tunnel, which has significantly increased our resources,” he said.
 |
| Photo: Caterham F1 Team |
Gascoyne is also happy that the car will finally benefit from the addition of the KERS.
“It's no secret that we'll have KERS on the car this year. Towards the end of last year it really started to affect us racing with the midfield cars. It hurt us in qualifying and in our eventual race positions,” the Brit explained.
The Caterham CT01 features a platypus-style nose that caused quite a stir when the first photos started the appear on the web.
“Yes, well the regulations have changed to limit the height of the nose box to try to ensure that noses don't get too high,” Gascoyne said.
“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,” the engineer added.
 |
| Photo: Caterham F1 Team |