The Caterham F1 Team had another difficult qualifying session in Singapore, with Kamui Kobayashi twentieth and Marcus Ericsson twenty-second and last after being affected by an electrical fault.
Kobayashi was twentieth, splitting the two Marussia’s, and felt the team had made progress with their car since free practice on Friday. The Japanese driver knows the race is going to be a long affair, and he is ready to fight for every position possible on Sunday.
“We did our homework and we improved the car for today,” insisted Kobayashi. “The track wasn’t in the best of conditions for FP3 so it didn’t show in the lap times, but performance-wise we are better than yesterday.
“I got the most out of the car during the qualifying session and our result was the best we could achieve tonight. Tomorrow is going to be a long and challenging race so I need to make sure I sleep well and come back tomorrow ready to fight through the streets of Singapore!”
Team-mate Ericsson’s qualifying was hindered by an electrical problem that had also affected his free practice running, and the Swede joined the fray late and qualified right at the back of the field, 1.882 seconds behind Kobayashi.
“It’s been a tough day,” reflected Ericsson. “In FP3 this afternoon we had some electrical issues and no telemetry, so it was a challenging start and a big stress for the team in between sessions, but in the end we were able to get out into Q1.
“I have to thank the team for their efforts to get me out in time to set a lap time but I’m disappointed with the overall result as we could’ve done better today if it hadn’t been for the technical problems. It was a compromised qualifying session, which is a shame, but it certainly was a great recovery and I look forward to the race tomorrow – it will be challenging but fun.”
