Saturday: A Qualification Not Perfect at Caterham

Giedo van der Garde – 20th and 20th:

« I was really happy with the way the car performed yesterday and it wasn’t too different at the start of free practice 3. I had a bit of understeer in turns 10 and 11 so we added some front wing to help, but overall it was good. On the performance run, I had issues with getting the front tires up to temperature and with understeer in the second sector, so we made further adjustments ahead of qualifying.

We did two stints on softs in qualifying and my first stint was good but there was clearly time to find, especially in the second sector. We had planned to do two quick laps but it was clear we could find time with just one so we went for it and my lap was quite close to the car’s maximum. The tires weren’t performing at their best in the first sector, so there might have been a tenth or two there, but sectors 2 and 3 were close to the maximum. Tomorrow, we know we’ll have race pace to pull away from our closest rivals, so we’ll see how that works out.

Charles Pic – 18th and 21st:

« We started free practice 3 with our usual first stint on the hardest tires and following the changes made last night, I was much happier with the car. Front grip was much better, and the car was consistent in the fast sections – a more normal behavior overall. We worked to improve stability on entry and mid-corner, but overall it was a good step forward compared to Friday. The last time on softs, in the second stint, showed the progress made last night and even though the session was delayed at the start, it was a good session.

In qualifying, the track had more grip but in the first stint, I couldn’t fully exploit it so we removed a bit of front wing and went out for a single fast lap in the second stint. Unfortunately, I was stuck behind several cars on that lap and couldn’t find enough space to set the time the car is capable of, so I finished 21st.