Caterham F1 revealed its new CT03 Formula 1 race car for the 2013 season during the first pre-season test at Circuito de Jerez in Spain. They also confirmed the driver lineup, which includes Charles Pic and Giedo van der Garde.
The CT03 is not only different than its predecessor in terms of technical features, it also sports a new racing livery; a refreshed version of the team’s green and yellow paint-scheme.
Caterham admits the CT03 is an evolution of CT01 rather than a complete re-design. From 2014 the entire F1 rulebook will change when the new V6 Turbo engines come to play, so they decided not to waste energy on a car that is going to be obsolete by the end of the season and instead save their resources for the 2014 car.
Looking forward to see how Caterham will do against the other fine British team that has high hopes this season: Lotus F1.
Mark Smith, Technical Director, Caterham F1 Team: “CT03 is the first car we have produced in the Leafield Technical Centre so it marks an important milestone in the development of our team. The season ahead presented us with an interesting challenge early in the design process as it is the last year of the current regulations before the introduction of the new engine rules in 2014. With that in mind we decided that CT03 would be an evolution of CT01 rather than a complete re-design, allowing us to focus our resources on developing areas of last year’s package where opportunities would give us the greatest return, whilst also beginning work on the 2014 package.
“We have made a number of significant changes to the car that takes it from the package that gained us tenth place in the 2012 Championship in Brazil into CT03. Among the most obvious are around the lower chassis where the sidepods have been significantly undercut to improve airflow to the rear of the car. The diffuser, engine cover and cooling exits have also seen major changes and there are more subtle improvements to other areas of the car, such as the sidepod turning vanes and the lower tea-tray area. This is the package we will take to race one in Australia and as part of the 2013 upgrade program we will then bring new front and rear wings and a new diffuser soon after the start of the season.
“However, the CT03 car that starts testing in Spain on day one in Jerez is not the only visible change amongst a number of other important developments at Caterham this winter. Back in Leafield, we are fast completing our own ‘driver in the loop’ simulator, created with the support of Dell and powered by Alienware. This is a major asset for our team that puts us on a par with any of our competitors and constitutes another example of the long-term plans we are activating that will help us continue to grow and develop into the team we know we can become.
