Caterham team owner Tony Fernandes is adamant his team has closed up on Formula One's midfield despite still lacking their first F1 point.
Having begun their campaign ignominiously with a double DNF, Caterham's form has improved as the season has progressed, culminating in Heikki Kovalainen's Q2 performance in Bahrain and his team-mate Vitaly Petrov's P16 result.
Billed as an "encouraging" start to the Championship, Fernandes believes his team are slowly but surely heading towards the midfield battle.
"We head back to Europe after what has been an encouraging first four races for the team," Fernandes said.
"We may not have quite bridged the gap to the midfield pack yet, but we are clearly much closer than we were this time last year, particularly on race day when we have seen clear evidence of the progress we have made."
The team owner was full of praise for his two drivers, confident they are the right men for the job.
"Having been with us for four races now, I am very pleased with the job Vitaly has been doing for the team. He is obviously a fighter and he is pushing his team-mate well, especially on Sundays, and that is good for the whole team.
"I think Heikki is due a run of better luck in the races as he has been pushing extremely hard in qualifying, particularly to get himself into Q2 in Bahrain, but he has not had the same luck when the lights go out on race day.
"Hopefully that will change in Barcelona and we will be able to see both cars fighting to the chequered flag on Sunday."
