The Caterham Formula One team picked an aggressive strategy that misfired for Saturday qualifying at their home race in Malaysia, Russian driver Vitaly Petrov said.
Petrov will start 19th for Sunday’s race, while teammate Heikki Kovalainen starts 24th and last after picking up a five-place penalty for overtaking during a safety car period at the last race in Australia.
The team sent Petrov out for two runs with a single flying lap each time, gambling that he could get the most out of the faster soft tires.
“We had quite an aggressive strategy here for qualifying but it didn't quite pay off,” he said on the team website.
The car’s setup needed to be improved, he said.
“I haven't really had a good balance on the car in either FP3 or the quali runs and I think we need to spend a bit more time looking at how to get the most out of the tires.”
The team believe the car is faster over a race distance than in qualifying.
“On the long runs we've done here it's been more settled, so we'll aim to have a good start, avoid any problems in the first couple of corners and get on with the fight ahead."
Petrov retired in Australia, his first race for Caterham, stopping on track on lap 35 with a steering problem.
He became Russia’s first F1 driver when he debuted for Renault in 2010, and picked up his only podium finish with third place in Australia in 2011 for Lotus Renault, finishing tenth in the drivers’ championship that year.
