Kovalainen: “I made a fantastic start”

After the Japanese Grand Prix, the two Caterham drivers, Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov, released the usual post-race statements. The former is quite satisfied with the progress of his race while Petrov suffered problems with the radio and KERS.

Heikki Kovalainen, 15th – “I made a fantastic start, avoiding contact at Turn 1 and overtaking Glock as soon as the safety car came back. I was keeping a good pace while I was eleventh before the pit stop, and in that part of the race the car was perfect. The wear on the softs was constant. Having switched to hard tyres, we observed that even in that case the wear rate was perfect. We had also thought about finishing the race with just one pit stop, but with ten laps to go we decided to make another pit stop to make sure we could finish the race.”

Vitaly Petrov, 17th – “At the start I avoided contact and tried to have a good pace. My first stint was good but after the loss of KERS, I started to lose precious time. I also had a problem with the radio and not being able to hear the warnings about any blue flags, I was penalized with a drive-through. It was a difficult weekend, but it's good to see that the team is committed to constantly improving the car. Next week in Korea we will have another chance to keep fighting.”

Gianluca Latina