Way down at the back of the grid there is an interesting battle shaping up between the two surviving members of the "new three" club. As always, the battle for the coveted 10th placed finish in the constructors is worth mega bucks to the team who takes it and last season saw Caterham just about manage to take the prize at the final race of the season. It was clear though that as the second half of 2012 wore on, Marussia has really started to catch up with the development of the Caterham and in some races actually show they could be a little bit faster.
Moving into this season and the dynamics of the battle have been changed by the decision of Caterham to part company with a driver who has given more than solid service to the team, Heikki Kovalainen, and the somewhat surprise decision by Marussia to drop the services of the hugely experienced Timo Glock.
In terms of drivers, only Caterhams Charles Pic has experienced a full season in F1 and actually raced the car. His best finish for Marussia coming with 12th place at the final race of the 2012 season in Brazil. The other three drivers have had some limited third driver and testing work but have yet to see the start of an F1 race in anger.
In terms of their performance outside of F1, only Van Der Garde has a series championship under his belt, winning the 2008 Formula Renault 3.5 series for P1 Motorsport. More recently Luiz Razia finished 2nd in the 2012 GP2 championship for Arden and took 4 wins and 5 other podium finishes in the process. Razia's new team mate, Maz Chilton is the least experienced of the four drivers and is fresh from an inconsistent GP2 season where he took 2 wins and a Podium in the feature races and 1 podium in the sprints. Charles Pic has taken wins in Formula Renault and GP2 but has finished no higher than 3rd in any series. As we've already said though, he is the only one of the four with regular F1 experience.
In terms of the cars, the beebs very own Gary Anderson has already noted that both teams have made a step forward in terms of aerodynamic packaging but more importantly there are many areas with which they are now on equal terms. For the first time both teams will be running with KERS and DRS which should make a huge difference to their weekend times.
As we have already seen in testing, the Marussia and Caterham aren't setting the world on fire but more importantly, the Marussia has finished the day ahead of the Caterham on more than one occasion. We as yet, can't prove anything from these times and it will be even more interesting to see how they run at the final test but there are the clearest signs yet that Caterham has got a real challenge on its hands.
Behind the scenes, obviously Caterham would appear to have the better engine, transmission and KERs package, running as they do, with the RBR units coupled to the quick and usually reliable Renault engine. Marussia on the other hand, are using the slightly less powerful Cosworth unit with the Williams KERS. This however, doesn't tell the full story because Marussia have Pat Symonds now fully integrated within the team after his long spell on the naughty step and a long term technical partnership with McLaren to use their wind tunnel facilities.
So, who do you think will take that all important 10th place at the end of the season and will either team or perhaps both finally make the jump up that would see them take home a point or two?
Moving into this season and the dynamics of the battle have been changed by the decision of Caterham to part company with a driver who has given more than solid service to the team, Heikki Kovalainen, and the somewhat surprise decision by Marussia to drop the services of the hugely experienced Timo Glock.
In terms of drivers, only Caterhams Charles Pic has experienced a full season in F1 and actually raced the car. His best finish for Marussia coming with 12th place at the final race of the 2012 season in Brazil. The other three drivers have had some limited third driver and testing work but have yet to see the start of an F1 race in anger.
In terms of their performance outside of F1, only Van Der Garde has a series championship under his belt, winning the 2008 Formula Renault 3.5 series for P1 Motorsport. More recently Luiz Razia finished 2nd in the 2012 GP2 championship for Arden and took 4 wins and 5 other podium finishes in the process. Razia's new team mate, Maz Chilton is the least experienced of the four drivers and is fresh from an inconsistent GP2 season where he took 2 wins and a Podium in the feature races and 1 podium in the sprints. Charles Pic has taken wins in Formula Renault and GP2 but has finished no higher than 3rd in any series. As we've already said though, he is the only one of the four with regular F1 experience.
In terms of the cars, the beebs very own Gary Anderson has already noted that both teams have made a step forward in terms of aerodynamic packaging but more importantly there are many areas with which they are now on equal terms. For the first time both teams will be running with KERS and DRS which should make a huge difference to their weekend times.
As we have already seen in testing, the Marussia and Caterham aren't setting the world on fire but more importantly, the Marussia has finished the day ahead of the Caterham on more than one occasion. We as yet, can't prove anything from these times and it will be even more interesting to see how they run at the final test but there are the clearest signs yet that Caterham has got a real challenge on its hands.
Behind the scenes, obviously Caterham would appear to have the better engine, transmission and KERs package, running as they do, with the RBR units coupled to the quick and usually reliable Renault engine. Marussia on the other hand, are using the slightly less powerful Cosworth unit with the Williams KERS. This however, doesn't tell the full story because Marussia have Pat Symonds now fully integrated within the team after his long spell on the naughty step and a long term technical partnership with McLaren to use their wind tunnel facilities.
So, who do you think will take that all important 10th place at the end of the season and will either team or perhaps both finally make the jump up that would see them take home a point or two?
me for the 'slightly' off topic)...
