Saturday: Van der Garde dominates Pic at Caterham
Charles Pic knew at the start of the qualifications that he would be penalized due to a gearbox change. Nevertheless, he was regularly outperformed by his teammate Giedo van der Garde. The Dutchman will therefore start 19th while the Frenchman will bring up the rear on the grid.
Giedo van der Garde – 20th and 19th [18th on the grid]:
« From the start of the third free practice session, it was clear that the changes we made overnight worked well. The track conditions were a bit better, but the car was back to where it was in the last races, much more balanced. This allowed me to push throughout the lap. We still had a bit of front locking and I struggled a bit with traction, but overall, it was a good start to the session. We tried a camber change for the second stint, but it didn’t improve anything. So we stuck with what was working, and the rest of the session went well. During our performance stint, I didn’t get a clean lap, so my final time was far from what I could do. Overall, I was reasonably satisfied going into qualifying.
We went for two stints of three laps in qualifying, and I must say I’m thrilled with my final position. Considering it’s a new track for me and I missed the first free practice session, finishing ahead of the guys we’re competing with is, I think, a good job. The car performed really well in Q1. I don’t think it could have gone much faster. We’re starting 19th tomorrow, and I think it’s going to be an interesting race.
Charles Pic – 19th and 21st [22nd on the grid]:
« We had a small mechanical problem at the beginning of the third practice session, which forced me to come in earlier than expected during the first stint. It was quickly fixed and I was back with hard tires for the first full stint. Compared to Friday, the car was clearly better. It was a bit oversteering, especially in the high and medium-speed corners, but it was fine in the slow parts.
In qualifying, the car’s balance was very different from in free practice. Maybe the change in wind direction influenced it a bit, but there was understeer between corners four and nine and in eleven, and oversteer on the exit of corners 13 and 19. So, I couldn’t push like in free practice. We have a penalty anyway because of our gearbox change this morning. So, I dropped back a few places, but even with that, it would have been good to keep the same pace in qualifying as we had this morning.
