Sunday: Caterham drivers satisfied with their races at Monza
The Caterham drivers achieved their goal today, finishing ahead of the Marussia, despite a two-stop strategy compared to just one for the Anglo-Russian team's drivers. Charles Pic had a relatively calm race, while Giedo van der Garde encountered a problem during his second stop, which cost him some time.
Charles Pic – 17th
« My start was good, and I maintained my position until turn 1, and I was with Bottas, attacking to stay with him. Until my first pit stop, I was able to keep the gap, but then in the second stint, he was much faster, and I simply didn’t have the pace to fight him. The car felt good, the first set of tires worked well, and we stuck to our strategy, stopping on lap 18 for the first pit stop.
We switched to hard tires for stints two and three, and honestly, from the moment I got back on track after my first stop, the rest of the race was calm for me. When the blue flags started to appear, we had to manage the traffic, and that obviously cost us a bit of time, but our pace was such that we were able to maintain the advantage over our rivals who were on a one-stop strategy, and that was the goal of the day.
We have shown in the last races that we had a clear advantage in terms of pace over them, and we still have enough races to fight for 10th place in the championship. Next time we will be in Singapore, which will be a busy weekend off the track, and on track, I think our car will be comfortable in the heat and on the circuit layout. After a calm race today, it will be nice to have some additional battles.
Giedo van der Garde – 18th:
« After having gotten off to good starts most often this season, I must say that this one wasn’t one of my best, but I overtook the Marussias in the middle of the first lap and was with Charles until his first stop. I came in a lap later and with new hard tires, the car felt good – the pace was good and I was easily pulling away from the cars behind and putting pressure on Charles.
We were on a two-stop strategy, and I came into the pits for my second stop when I received the call to come in. There was a communication error on the pit wall, and when I arrived, the guys were not ready for me, which obviously cost me time, and I came out behind Bianchi, but I overtook him fairly quickly and tried to catch up with my teammate. It’s a shame because my pace was good in the second stint, and I would have had a chance to pass Charles, but sometimes these things happen – it’s motor racing.
