"I am enjoying every single challenge even more than ever. I know we are not going to be the fastest team out there - I am an optimist but also a realist. What gives me confidence is knowing that, whatever happens, we will keep working harder than ever to make our dreams come true. The first test is just around the corner now and I feel a strange mix of nervousness and excitement, [as] I always do at this time of year. But now we are in complete control of our own destiny it's a feeling I am relishing more than ever.
"We have just celebrated Chinese New Year and 2012 is the Year of the Dragon. I was born in the Year of the Dragon so I feel very energised and optimistic about the year to come. This could just be our year and I have never felt better. I am looking forward to whatever may happen - the ups and the downs. I feel very confident in the growth of the businesses Kamarudin and I run, and I am very excited about the future of the whole Caterham Group.
"Target wise, I have been quoted as saying I want us to score a point this year and that really has to be the aim. It has to be. Towards the end of last year, we were so close to the midfield cars, but our lack of KERS limited our capabilities. This year, however, with the people and facilities we have in the factory and the wind tunnel, and with KERS, I am confident that we will become a danger to many of the midfield teams and, yes, I want us to achieve a point somewhere in 2012 - maybe two if we are very lucky!"
Despite the name change from Lotus to Caterham, born of a long-running dispute with the Malaysian owners of the historic name, Fernandes insists that that is all that is different about his team.
"It is important to remember that how the car looks and behaves is one part, admittedly a major part, but just one part of what makes this team who we are," he concluded, "Caterham is the name we will race under for many years to come, but we still have the same DNA we have had since day one, back in 2009. We are the same team but, every day, we are growing stronger and what underpins that growth is the people in our team who have been with us since the early days, and the people who have come on board and share our vision. We are still very proudly green and yellow and I think that says rather a lot about who we are.
"For me, this is a new year, a new start as Caterham, and the next chapter in our story. This is the first time our whole design team has really been able to get its teeth into creating our own product and I know it will be a progression from the T128, technically and in terms of its performance."
