Former Caterham F1 Team race driver, Heikki Kovalainen, rejoins as its lead reserve driver in a move which first surfaced last month. Current reserve driver, Alexander Rossi, moves to Caterham Racing to compete in the 2013 GP2 Championship replacing Chinese driver, Ma Qing Hua.
Ma Qing Hua, who competed in the GP2 opening race in Malaysia and tested for Caterham F1 in last weekend’s Chinest GP is now without a drive, although Caterham say “his revised race plans in 2013 will be made in due course.”
If this all sounds a bit ‘messy’, then in true Caterham style, it is and it isn’t.
You’ll remember Kovalainen was unceremoniously bumped off the F1 team at the end of 2012 when it chose to promote reserve driver Giedo van der Garde. He brought money to the team, which Kovalainen was unable to match and the media portrayed a falling-out between the Finn and Caterham F1’s founder, Tony Fernandes.
But that’s not how it really was in practice.
Giedo van der Garde (Left) has had a difficult start to his first season in F1, while Chinese driver Ma Qing Hua is now without a drive.Kovalainen is a Formula 1 race winner (when Lewis Hamilton’s team mate at McLaren), Race of Champions winner (beating off Michael Schumacher) and veteran of 60 grand prix. Whatever you might say about his race craft, he knows his way around an f1 car and also helped build Caterham’s F1 team.
During the Malaysian GP weekend four weeks ago, Fernandes held a dinner on Saturday night with his Caterham executives. Kovalainen had mischievously appeared in the pits during Malaysian GP practice (at the Boss’ bequest), and Fernandes was in effervescent mood when he announced that Heikki would be rejoining the F1 team.
The reason may seem obvious as we approach the fourth grand prix this weekend in Bahrain, but when Fernandes announced the decision just a single race had been run – not enough to judge the performances of van der Garde or his team mate Charles Pic.
One can only suppose the canny entrepreneur agreed a performance clause in his new driver’s contracts. In exchange for the money they bring to the team, they get to race, but if they (repeatedly) fall behind the competition (Marussia drivers Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton) then a reserve seat beckons.
During his downtime Kovalainen has remained motivated and in excellent physical condition, crucially without any race plans in the familiar second tier championships which ex-F1 drivers usually migrate to (DTM of GT racing). So he’s ready, willing and it seems eager to take up a full race drive with Caterham F1 at the earliest chance.
The reason may seem obvious as we approach the fourth grand prix in Bahrain, but when Fernandes announced his decision just a single race had been run.
Interestingly, Caterham has announced that Kovalainen will be in van der Garde’s car for FP1 in Bahrain, joining Pic in testing out the team’s first 2013 development parts.
“It’s obviously great news that I’ll be on track in Bahrain and Spain,” said Kovalainen “..and I’m really looking forward to getting back to work and helping the team as much as I can. I’ll be taking part in the two FP1 sessions in Bahrain and Barcelona to give the team my input on the new parts we’re bringing to those races, and I’ll be working closely with the race drivers and the engineers on track and back at Leafield to help everyone get the most out of the new package.
“Tony, Cyril and I have been talking about me taking up this role for quite a while, so it’s good to finally be able to announce how I’ll be helping the team in 2013. I’m physically ready to get back into the car and I know my experience can help give the team new ideas and options for directions to take on setup and strategy. I’m looking forward to getting back to work!”
This weekend’s grand prix in Bahrain sees the introduction of the first performance updates to the 2013 car, and important milestone for the team, which has curiously fallen behind Marussia both in terms of speed and rate of development.
Cyril Abiteboul, Team Principal, Caterham F1 Team said, “After Ma’s successful run in FP1 in China a number of new opportunities have arisen for him and we have decided to restructure our current line-up. Alexander moves to Caterham Racing to compete in GP2 and I am sure he will be an immediate success in that championship whilst he will continue to enjoy the link with the F1 team throughout the season.”
“Heikki returns to track work with us and we are delighted to welcome him back into the team. He has six years of F1 experience behind him so he is perfectly placed to provide us objective feedback on the various types of configurations we will run and to give us an objective view of the 2013 tyres against his experience with the 2012 compounds. ”
“Having invested in Heikki for our first three years of competition it would be a waste not to leverage the valuable expertise he brings. As F1 is a team sport, he will also provide support to Charles Pic and Giedo van der Garde, who are both doing a good job in their first months with the team.”
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This is a crucial year for Caterham. They can no longer fall back on the “new team” excuses – this is their fourth season, they share much of the same mechanicals as the Red Bulls, and having settled into Leafield last year, they’re now located at a base which allows them to attract new recruits.
Unfortunately, my belief is that with the three-year plan failing to deliver on aspirations, they found themselves over-committed and under-funded, and so despite all the skillful PR, I can only assume that it was a simple lack of cash that left them with no choice but to have to start 2013 with what is essentially last year’s car. As for driver choice, the inclusion of Giedo van der Garde was very much down to his McGregor £Ms, and whatever people might speculate about him losing his seat, Caterham are in no position to lose their principal paying sponsor.
Heikki, I am sure, will be welcome back, not only for his strong technical knowledge, but also as a much liked member of the team. Nevertheless, if Caterham were genuinely confident about their upgrade packages (which they’ve been boasting about since Melbourne), I don’t see that they should need to bring the Finn back into the fold. Charles Pic is a very capable young driver and did an incredible job in his rookie year at Marussia.So as ever, there’s a lot more to this than they’re telling us.
Of course, this story isn’t just about Heikki; it’s also about Alexander Rossi and Ma Qing Hua. Rossi is clearly destined for a race seat somewhere soon, he has natural pace and is as strong in the paddock as he is on track. GP2 is the right place for him and he’ll no doubt us this experience wisely. Ma, on the other hand, is simply not of the calibre that F1 drivers should be. Despite Cyril Abiteboul’s well chosen words, everybody knows that the young Chinese driver has publicly demonstrated his limits and whilst the benefits to Team Fernandes remain, Abiteboul’s desire to win on the track and not in the air currently has the day.
So let’s see just what Heikki can deliver on Bahrain’s dusty green track on Friday, but if Caterham are expecting to see the CT03 placed firmly ahead of Bianchi’s Marussia, I think that there are probably better ways of going about it.
I agree with you in most respects, apart from Caterham F1 not having the money. If Fernandes wanted to throw more money at the team he would (he could certainly afford to), but from spending a little time with them last month I got the impression that’s not how Fernandes undertakes any of his ventures.
Like him or not, he’s unquestionably shrewd and believes in each of his businesses being able to stand on their own feet. It’s incredibly hard not to become emotionally vested in a business and start ploughing in more money than sense, because vanity or pride drives you on.
I watched van der Garde in GP2 last year and never thought he shone. Pic is on a par with Bianchi, although a little timid, while Kovalainen is a race winner who has what it takes to maximise the car’s performance. I was in Paris at the RoC when he beat Schumi and he truly dominated his peers.
I believe bringing him back is the right thing for Caterham – they’ll never move forward with two rookies in the car and while Kovalainen may not be quicker than Pic, he can certainly stop the team chasing shadows down blind alleys.
I expect to see him take the full race seat after Spain, unless
van der Garde really lifts his game during the next two races.