Test pleases Caterham owner

After two years building up a marque formerly known as Lotus, the last few days have been some of the most encouraging Fernandes has enjoyed in Formula One.

Caterham no longer appears a rookie team, and the pace of their new car suggests a points breakthrough could be in the offing following two barren seasons.

With the KERS power-boost system installed on the car for the first time on Wednesday, Heikki Kovalainen completed 139 trouble-free laps - the equivalent of two race distances around the Circuito de Jerez.

Reserve driver Giedo van der Garde added another 74 on Thursday and Jarno Trulli completed 119 on his first day in the car on Friday.

The veteran Italian finished slowest of the nine cars on show, over three seconds down on Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, but Fernandes was nevertheless ecstatic.

"(The number of laps completed) is something we never came close to last season. For that reason we really have arrived as a Formula One team, and to accomplish it in two years is something I'm extremely proud of," said Fernandes.

"The start we have made in testing has already far exceeded my expectations."
Tony Fernandes Quotes of the week

"The start we have made in testing has already far exceeded my expectations."

Ambitions

Fernandes feels Caterham could finally start to mix it with more established outfits such as Williams, Sauber and Toro Rosso this year.

"For me, if we'd scored a point last year then it would have been a lucky one based on other people's misfortunes," he said.

"This year, and I know it's only the first test, but we can really go into a race and think, yeah, we have a chance.

"That's based on what we have seen so far because there are still another two tests to go. But you would tend to think a team like ourselves, from where we are coming from, has a chance to improve further than established teams.

"We've CFD (computational fluid dynamics) up and running, we're ramping up for a 24-7 wind tunnel, and so there is every chance."

However, the Malaysian entrepreneur, who also runs Barclays Premier League club QPR and airline AirAsia, appreciates that times in testing can often be misleading.

"The first test I went to Sauber looked so damn fast, and then they ended up somewhere where we were," said Fernandes. "So it's very hard to tell what people are doing, with tyres, fuel and everything else.

"You would think we should again be ahead of the other new teams (Marussia and Hispania, who also entered F1 at the start of the 2010 season), and at the moment we seem to be giving one or two of the established teams something to think about."

Strategy

Fernandes should have been on hand on Tuesday to watch his team's new car take to the track, only for business in his homeland to keep him away. Despite that, there was no disappointment, due to the fact he has complete trust in the team around him.

"I'm really now someone who guides, who lays out strategy," said Fernandes, who will be in Australia for the first grand prix on March 18.

"I always said my job was to get the team to a position where the structure is right, the future is set out, and we put a competent management team in there, which has done us proud."