Friday: A useful rainy day at Caterham

Giedo van der Garde – 19th and 19th:

I drove here last year during Free Practice 1 and had a good session, so I already knew the track, which means we quickly got into our program. The track seemed wetter than after the installation lap, so we switched from wet to intermediate tires for the first reference stint, and I was happy with the initial balance. The rear was a bit unpredictable, a bit loose, but the front grip was good, especially in fast corners, and for me, in such conditions, that’s what I like, so it was good. The second stint consisted of several flying laps with a stop between each to allow us to practice pit stops, but after the stop, the car encountered a problem shifting gears, which meant I had to come back to the garage in second gear. We studied this and found it was a software issue, so it was quickly resolved, which means we were able to do one last stint at the end of the session, finishing with 18 laps, which wasn’t too bad considering the track conditions.

Free practice 2 started well. We waited a bit at the beginning of the session and then went out on rain tires, and I did a good lap; I had grip and a car with which I could push. There was a bit of tire performance loss, but I was happy with the performance and balance with the rain tires. For the rest of the session, we waited for the water level on the track to drop enough for intermediates, and we went out 15 minutes before the end, completing 12 additional laps in conditions similar to last year’s race, which we would like again this year, of course. I must say the car feels really good in the rain – the last times it was similar were at Spa and Monaco, two highlights for me this year, so if we can do the same, I think Sunday could be very interesting.

Charles Pic – 20th and 20th:

We started free practice 1 with the usual installation lap, using wet tires, but the track conditions were good, so we went out on intermediates for the first full stint. The initial balance was good, but towards the end of the stint, we stopped to fit a new set of intermediates with lower pressures, and that really improved the front grip, but at the expense of overall balance. At the end of the first stint, the rain returned, so we changed our plan, carried out several procedures, and made sure not to overuse the tires. We waited until the end of the session before heading out again when the rain stopped, and for me, it was a very useful session, especially keeping in mind what could happen with the weather this weekend.

Like most of the other single-seaters, we waited for the rain to stop at the beginning of free practice 2 and then went out for a first stint with rain tires. The track was very wet and there was aquaplaning in several places, but we completed several laps before encountering a sensor issue, which meant we had to come back in. At that point, the weather wasn’t good enough for intermediates and, due to our desire to have as many sets of rain tires as possible for Sunday, we decided to wait until the last 15 minutes before going out again on intermediates. We gathered enough data from today’s wet running to give us useful information for the rest of the weekend – now we’re going to see what the weather will be like for tomorrow and Sunday.