Caterham target break through season

2012 is a key year in the eyes of Caterham.

New name, new philosophy for one of the teams that are still currently classified as one of the newbie teams in Formula One.

But while Team Lotus, might have run around, slightly ahead of the other newbie teams of Hispania and Virgin Racing during the past two seasons, this season, all three teams head into the new Formula One championships with new names, but only one goes into the season with new ambitions.

While HRT [formerly Hispania] and Marussia [formerly Virgin] go into Australia, without any real testing mileage behind them after only recently passing their mandatory crash tests and still competing without KERS [Kinetic Energy Recovery System], Caterham [formally team Lotus], have completed hundreds of miles of testing with their new car and head into the 2012 season with a fully functioning, straight out of the box from Red Bull Racing, gearbox and KERS.

Team Lotus and Renault Sport F1 extended their previous deal at the back end of September, which will see them continue to race with Renault V8 engines for this season and next and is expected to see them continue the partnership into the new V6 engine era in 2014.

The deal between them and Red Bull Technology, will also see them continue to run with Red Bull gearboxes as they have done previously, but for the first time will also use Red Bull's KERS systems in the new Caterham.

This is just another step forward for the team and including the rest of the improvements in regards to the remainder of the package, should see them take giant leaps away from the likes of HRT and Marussia and into the mid-pack battle of the Formula One grid.

'Melbourne 2012 is a very important race for us and one I am possibly more excited about than any race we have participated in our two short years in F1,' Caterham team principal Tony Fernandes told Sky Sports.

'Now it is time for us to take our place as a midfield team, and we have everything in place to do just that.

'If we do, and find ourselves racing teams like Williams, Toro Rosso and Sauber I think that will be an incredible achievement, from a starting point of an empty factory in September 2009 to racing teams who have decades on us in terms of establishment and development.'

With a bit of luck, they may even score their first Formula One point this season.