With nearly 120,000 fans in attendance, the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend was an unqualified success. Given the amount of Formula One publicity and attractions on offer in the nearby city of Kuala Lumpur, its no surprise the Sepang event is proving popular. And with a local team to support in Tony Fernandes newly-rebranded Caterham outfit, there was even more reason for cheers from the grandstands, despite the teams slow start to their third season of F1 competition. Fernandes, however, maintains theyll be making inroads on the midfield soon, as he explained exclusively to Formula1.com...
Tony Fernandes: That is a very good question, partly because it gets to the heart of what Formula One is all about, which is entertainment. We were there to put on the most incredible show on the planet. And one of the key elements of the sport is the drama, the tension and the spectacle, which keeps fans on the edge of their seats every time the cars are on track and sees hundreds of millions of people following every aspect of the sport between races however they can. And if you take what F1 has shown to the fans at the track - and on TV worldwide - then you have to say that F1 delivered again. As for us, you are right to say that Australia could be seen as our opening night, but we have a long-term plan to achieve our goals, and while this is year three, it is also still the early stages of our development.
In year one, we just had to finish tenth - a pretty sensational achievement in its own right, having started from literally zero six months before the first race. In year two we had to reinforce our position in the top-ten teams and continue to build the foundations. In year three we have closed the gap further to the teams ahead, but there is still work to do to make us truly competitive with the established teams who have decades of experience behind them. So, for opening night in Malaysia 2012, we did show the sort of race pace we enjoyed in Australia, where both cars were posting similar lap times to teams who were regular points scorers in 2011. And if you take where the reigning champion Sebastian Vettel finished then we walked home from a very difficult race with our heads held high! For sure, we know how hard it is to bridge the gap to the midfield and we are fighting like tigers to do that - at our home race in Malaysia and at every race we compete in worldwide.
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