In the first of two
Crash.net columns, Trevor Carlin reflects on the some of the famous names to have driven for the team...
Q:
Kimi Raikkonen tested with the team in 1999. What were the circumstances surrounding the test, and what do you remember of his performance?
Trevor Carlin:
The reason Kimi tested with us at Pembrey was because his managers David and Steve Robertson had organised a
Formula One test with the Sauber
F1 Team and at that point Kimi had only ever driven a Formula Renault 2.0. He’d done fantastically in Formula Renault, but obviously they wanted to give him something slightly more powerful to drive with a bit more grip. So we took him to Pembrey.
Takuma Sato was driving as well, he was testing Kumho tyres, and Kimi was driving on the standard Avon tyres.
It being Pembrey, it did rain, and conditions weren’t great. Basically Kimi kept himself to himself, Boyo - Anthony Hiett, who was usually Taku’s engineer, engineered Kimi for that test. Taku wasn’t best pleased about that, but we explained that it was just a one-off and that Taku’s test was just a tyre test and so it wasn’t crucial to have Boyo with him.
Kimi didn’t say a lot, he just worked with Boyo, he drove, he was completely in control, on the pace and quick straight away. He was as quick as Sato, but he was on different tyres, so I don’t know how their lap times would have compared had they been on the same rubber. When it dried out, Kimi just kept on doing a good job.
Over the two day test he was highly impressive for a complete rookie; he matched Taku who was the championship leader in British F3 at that time. The surprise was that he adapted to F3 and F1 so quickly. It just shows that the right driver in the right car at the right time can do a good job, as has been proven recently with
Lewis Hamilton. If Kimi had the same opportunities as Lewis he would be winning lots of Grand Prix now.
Q:
Narain Karthikeyan took the first victory for Carlin in 1999. How special was that?
Trevor Carlin:
It was a great moment for the team, but I think to be honest our best moment with Narain was actually in 1998 when he got our first podium, finishing third at Spa. Emotionally that was almost more important than the first win, because we had come from nowhere with this Indian lad that no-one expected anything of, and we got a podium in our third proper race. So to get that podium was very special.
