page_title: Caterham CT01
section_title: Season review
hierarchical_section_title: Caterham CT01 / Season review
caption_attribution_description: P7229507
context_page_description: The Caterham CT01 is a Formula One racing car produced by the British-based Caterham F1 Team which competed in the 2012 Formula One season. The car, designed under the leadership of the team's technical director Mike Gascoyne, chief designer Lewis Butler and head of aerodynamics Marianne Hinson, was the third car to be produced by the team and the first to carry the team's new name, following their renaming from Team Lotus at the end of 2011. The CT01 was the first car launched for the 2012 season, when an online launch initially planned for 26 January, was cancelled and the car was released a day earlier instead. The car was driven by Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov, who replaced Jarno Trulli after the first test at Jerez.
context_section_description: The team started the year in Australia where Kovalainen and Petrov qualified the new CT01 in 19th and 20th respectively, albeit, over two seconds off the pace of the Q1 pacesetter. About halfway through the race, Petrov retired the car with steering issues on the start/finish straight causing a safety car period; Kovalainen later retired with suspension failure. At the next race in Malaysia, the team repeated its qualifying performance of 19th and 20th on a rain soaked track, where it became apparent the team still had the edge over the Marussias and HRTs, as it had last season. The car appeared to have made some gains on the midfield too, with Kovalainen only 0.02 seconds behind Toro Rosso driver Jean-Éric Vergne in qualifying. After a race full of heavy rain, safety cars periods and a red flag, the team managed to bring home both cars home for the first time in the season with Petrov in 16th and Kovalainen in 18th. For the third race in a row, in China, Kovalainen and Petrov qualified in 19th and 20th. Petrov managed to bring the car home in 18th while Kovalainen finished as the last of the cars still running, 2 laps down on his teammate.
  The Bahrain Grand Prix was an improvement for the team, with Kovalainen managing to qualify the car in 16th, making it into Q2 for the first time in 2012 ahead of Michael Schumacher, Pastor Maldonado, and Vergne. Petrov qualified in 20th place for the fourth time in the first four races before finishing the race in 16th. Kovalainen finished one place behind this after a first lap puncture due to a collision with Daniel Ricciardo. The two cars were initially in 19th and 20th again in Spain, but both gained a place due to Lewis Hamilton's penalty. Petrov out-qualified Kovalainen for the first time in the season. Kovalainen achieved a better race result than Petrov as the pair finished the race in 16th and 17th places. At Monaco, the team were hoping that the lack of straight line speed on the circuit would help their chances at getting the team's first points. Kovalainen and Petrov qualified in 18th and 19th respectively due to Sergio Pérez not setting a time, and due to Maldonando's grid penalty, they were moved up a further place each to 17th and 18th. On lap 16 Petrov pulled into the pits for a routine tyre change but retired with electrical failure. Kovalainen was twelfth in the race, attempting to hold off Button and Pérez before he was involved in a collision with the Mexican which broke his front wing forcing him to pit. He only lost one place and still achieved the team's best result of the season so far with thirteenth. The result put the team back into tenth in the Constructors' standings ahead of Marussia and HRT.
  For the next race in Canada, it was business as usual, with the cars qualifying in 18th and 19th places, with Kovalainen ahead of Petrov again, and then finishing the race in the same positions as they started. The qualifying at the European Grand Prix was a good result for the team, as Kovalainen managed to make it into Q2 by merit ahead of Vergne and the Red Bull of Mark Webber and eventually qualified 16th. Meanwhile, Petrov qualified down in 20th. The team relished a highly competitive race pace for the race itself with Petrov running in tenth for a good deal of the race and Kovalainen not far behind. However, the team faced two clashes with Toro Rosso's with Vergne on lap 27 attempting to pass around the outside of turn 12 using DRS, but he pulled ahead and his rear right wheel touched Kovalainen's front left, causing both to suffer immediate punctures. Kovalainen managed to continue after pitting for a new set of tyres while Vergne retired. Meanwhile, Petrov had an incident with Ricciardo while running in 11th place where they both came into turn 14, and Ricciardo going around the outside got clipped by the front of Petrov and was put into a spin while Petrov continued without a front wing before diving into the pit. Even with these clashes with other drivers, the evident pace was still there as Petrov managed to match the team's best finish in Monaco with 13t
caption: Petrov at the German Grand Prix showing that the car could regularly fight for position with the Toro Rossos.
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