(Florent Gooden DPPI for Renault Sport F1)
Caterham F1 Team boss Manfredi Ravetto has denied Kamui Kobayshi's assertion that the Leafield based outfit asked him to retire a healthy car from the Russian Grand Prix last weekend as the team were concerned over the mileage of his Renault power unit.
Kobayashi told TV reports that he was surprised that the team had asked him to retire from the race. At the time of his retirement the Japanese driver was in last place.
However, Ravetto has stated the team were themselves surprised by Kobayashi's comments following the retirement from the Russian Grand Prix. He has however stated that the team did indeed ask Kobayashi to retire the car as the could see on the telemetry that he was suffering from overheating brakes.
Ravetto has also also laid the blame for Caterham's current financial situation squarely at the door of previous team owner Tony Fernandes having previously stated that the team were on the verge of collapse when the Swiss/Middle Eastern consortium took over the team and inherited the situation and that the new owners are working extremely hard to get the team out of the situation that they currently find themselves in.
Ravetto also stated that since the new owners took over ahead of the British Grand Prix they have made improvements to the car and were very close to getting into Q2 at the last race in Sochi.
He also refuted claims that the team were running low on parts stating that in Japan following Kobayashi's crash the team worked extremely hard to repair his car and get him into the following session.
With three race's remaining in 2014 the Caterham F1 Team along with Sauber F1 Team remain the only outfit's on the grid yet to score a world championship point in 2014.
© Ben Johnston 2014
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