The Caterham F1 Team has announced the return of Heikki Kovalainen, who will replace Ma Qing Hua as one of the teams two reserve drivers.
The Finnish driver will kick off his driving duties in Bahrain and Spain in First Practice. Alexander Rossi, the teams other reserve driver, will move to Qing Hua's GP2 seat at the Caterham junior squad.
A team statement revealed that Ma Qing Hua's future will be announced soon, but the driver who became the first Chinese driver to drive at a Chinese Grand Prix weekend will remain "a core member of the team."
Caterham described drafting Kovalainen is as a "formal technical development" role for the Finn. He last raced for the team in 2012 but had failed to move to the "pay driver" route, hence him being dropped.
However after signing inexperienced Charles Pic and Giedo van der Garde, Caterham now feel they need experience to develop their CT03 car.
Team Princiapl Cyril Abiteboul said on the announcement "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 (Ross) moves to Caterham Racing to compete in GP2 and I am sure he will be an immediate success in the championship whilst he will continue to enjoy the link with the F1 team throughout the season."
It is a mixed move for Rossi, he now misses out on his first FP1 drive but will move to GP2 to compete in the highly competitive championship.
Abiteboul spoke on drafting Heikki in to replace Qing Hua, saying "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."
Kovalainen tweeted ahead of the weekend "Just arrived in Bahrain, good to get to drive again! Looking forward to working with the Caterham boys and girls again!"
He added in the team statement "It's obviously great news that I'll be on track in Bahrain and Spain 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."
Kovalainen continued, "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!"
The switch up is in hope that Kovalainen will be able to develop and improve the CT03's pace, which is currently some way behind the midfield. The team also look to have lost out to Marussia so far in 2013.
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| (c) Octane Photographic |
A team statement revealed that Ma Qing Hua's future will be announced soon, but the driver who became the first Chinese driver to drive at a Chinese Grand Prix weekend will remain "a core member of the team."
Caterham described drafting Kovalainen is as a "formal technical development" role for the Finn. He last raced for the team in 2012 but had failed to move to the "pay driver" route, hence him being dropped.
However after signing inexperienced Charles Pic and Giedo van der Garde, Caterham now feel they need experience to develop their CT03 car.
Team Princiapl Cyril Abiteboul said on the announcement "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 (Ross) moves to Caterham Racing to compete in GP2 and I am sure he will be an immediate success in the championship whilst he will continue to enjoy the link with the F1 team throughout the season."
It is a mixed move for Rossi, he now misses out on his first FP1 drive but will move to GP2 to compete in the highly competitive championship.
Abiteboul spoke on drafting Heikki in to replace Qing Hua, saying "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."
Kovalainen tweeted ahead of the weekend "Just arrived in Bahrain, good to get to drive again! Looking forward to working with the Caterham boys and girls again!"
He added in the team statement "It's obviously great news that I'll be on track in Bahrain and Spain 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."
Kovalainen continued, "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!"
The switch up is in hope that Kovalainen will be able to develop and improve the CT03's pace, which is currently some way behind the midfield. The team also look to have lost out to Marussia so far in 2013.
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