Kamui Kobayashi has said everyone at Caterham is working ‘flat out’ ahead of the 2014 F1 Chinese Grand Prix – and he has also revealed the team will take a couple of new parts to the event.

Kobayashi finished 15th in Bahrain last weekend and with Marussia’s Max Chilton taking 13th, Caterham slips back behind in the Constructors’ Championship.

Kobayashi isn’t discouraged though, and believes the Leafield-based outfit has a ‘small advantage’ in terms of pure pace over Marussia.

“The last of the four early season flyaway races is Shanghai, a track I’ve always had good support on and one that’s a really good challenge technically. We obviously want to head back to Europe in a good position so everyone’s working flat out to help us do that,” Kobayashi stated.

“We have a couple of new parts coming in China before the bigger package everyone brings to Spain, but we also have to make sure we play to our strengths – we have a small advantage in pure pace over our direct rivals which put us in a strong position for most of the Bahrain race, right up until the final stint which ended with a disappointing result.

“We have to use that performance now to help us get back to where we want to be, and to build on that at every race.”

Kobayashi also added that he has fond memories of competing at the Shanghai International Circuit: “The last time I raced there in 2012 I qualified fourth, the highest qualifying position of my career and my team at that point,” he explained. “I actually started third after Lewis [Hamilton] had an issue but then the car had a problem with the launch and I lost a lot of places off the line.

“While I know we won’t be starting that high this year, it would still be good to have a better race in 2014, and the whole team is working as hard as possible to help us do that,” he continued.

“We saw in Malaysia that we have good straightline speed so we’ll have to make sure that works in our favour, and with Renault we’ll be working on energy management so we can maximise the advantage we have in those parts of the track.”