Sunday: Smooth race for Caterham

Charles Pic – 17th:

« My start was pretty good: I overtook Chilton but had to brake hard and quickly experienced a significant vibration on the front right. We had planned to stop early, so we didn’t have to change our strategy too much, pitting at the end of the fourth lap to switch to mediums.

During the second stint, the degradation level was good. We had planned to stop earlier to align with one of the Marussia stops, but since the tires were performing well, we stayed out. For once, we got a bit lucky with the safety car coming out, and we pitted for a new set of mediums, rejoining ahead of my teammate in 17th place. Since we changed our plan during the safety car, I had to manage this second set of mediums, and they were performing well until I had a puncture on lap 35, so I had to make an unexpected return to the pits.

This unexpected stop obviously ruined our strategy, which is really a shame because we would have battled with the pack in front of us that was bunched up due to the safety car. It’s really frustrating as you can’t do much in these kinds of circumstances. Because of this stop, I restarted last but passed Chilton and, a few laps before the end, overtook Giedo whose tires were destroyed. From there, it was just a matter of making it to the finish.

Giedo van der Garde – 18th:

I had a great start, overtook two cars, then Vergne on the first lap. At the end of the first lap, I was in 17th place. The car was handling well, but we wanted to get rid of the soft tires quickly. So, we stuck to our plan and stopped early to switch to the medium tires, which performed well during long stints in practice.

The first set of medium tires was performing well, but we adapted our plan, stopping on the 20th lap for another set of medium tires. We had seen the first blue flags when the safety car came out. I was able to make up my lost lap and when the race restarted, I was 16th, behind Bottas’ Williams and Gutierrez and ahead of Charles. From that moment on, to be honest, it was a solo race! I was focused on making sure I could bring the car to the finish without any issues and we didn’t have any more blue flags until near the end of the race. Everything went smoothly.

I stopped again at lap 35 and from there, it was about getting home. It was a long stint and my tires were completely destroyed towards the end and I slowed down a lot, but Charles and I were far from our closest rival. So it went well to reach the checkered flag with him.

Despite my place in the final, I think it was a small step forward for me. My tire management during the race has slightly improved today and I’ve worked well on it all weekend. We now have a short break before the next race in Hungary. So I have time to go back to the factory to work on the simulator and return to Hungary to try to keep improving.