Sunday: Caterham was able to fight with the Williams today

Charles Pic – 19th:

« Even if I finish in 19th position, I’m not too disappointed. We tried a two-stop strategy, but it didn’t work out as we wanted. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn’t… I got a good start when the lights went out, but I had to move over to avoid Bianchi and lost a lot of time during my first stint behind him.

Just before returning to the pit, I was able to overtake him and gain a bit of ground. When I got back on the track, I was on mediums, on a clear track, and I was able to push to catch up with my teammate.

When the safety car came out, I pitted and returned to the track in 19th place, just ahead of Giedo [Van der Garde]. The car was not bad and the tires looked good, so we switched to a two-stop strategy while my teammate changed his tires. I tried my best to manage the degradation of my tires, but with 6 laps to go in the Grand Prix, the wear on my rear tires was too significant, and I returned to the pit. The race was over for me because even though I had new super-soft tires, I didn’t have enough time in 6 laps to catch up with the cars ahead.

Giedo van der Garde – 16th:

« It was a difficult race but very good. I have to say that I really enjoyed this performance tonight. We fought with the Williams most of the time and I am happy for Tony [Fernandes, Editor’s Note: Team Principal and Majority Shareholder of Air Asia] and Kamarudin [Meranun, Editor’s Note: Minority Shareholder of Air Asia] that we are doing it on our return to Southeast Asia.

After a poor start, I managed to overtake Charles [Pic], Bianchi, and Bottas by the end of the first lap, and I was right behind Sutil until my first pit stop. The car performed very well on super soft tires. My stint was excellent, with a pace similar to cars in 12th place.

We came in on the 12th lap to put on the mediums and I went out in 18th position, still ahead of Bottas who was on super softs in his second stint. With the difference in pace here between the two tire compounds, I did what I could but he overtook me three laps later.

Then, the safety car came onto the track and I went in to change tires, again for mediums, and my pace was quite good and I was able to overtake Bottas. When the cars became lighter on fuel, he was able to overtake me, so I focused on finishing the race ahead of Charles, who was on a two-stop strategy. At the end, he had to manage tire issues and I was catching him by two seconds per lap, and just before he went into the pits to change his tires, I was able to overtake him and finish 16th at the end.

It’s nice to have races like that and to be able to fight with the Williams. I thank the team for their hard work. Now, I’m going to stay here a bit before leaving for South Korea. I’m tired from my race but I’m looking forward to getting back in the cockpit.