Sunday: Caterham makes a step forward thanks to its innovations

Charles Pic – 17th

« This has been our best race of the year so far and one that the entire team should be thrilled about. I quickly passed both Marussia after starting on Mediums which held up well in the first stint, allowing me to pit for the first time on lap 11. At that point, the car was really good, well balanced, and I could widen the gap with my pursuers without any problem. We switched to the hard tires for the second stint and once again, the level of degradation was good. I passed Gutiérrez and was comfortably in 16th position when Sutil passed me about two-thirds into the race.

With the decrease in fuel level, the level of tire degradation slightly increased, but it wasn’t problematic. I was able to keep up with Ricciardo who was just ahead, and I managed to keep Gutiérrez behind me. We decided to stay on track after my third stop, so I did a very long final stint on the hard tires, 21 laps, and finished 17th. I’m really pleased to see that we finished so close to the Toro Rosso ahead and that we were able to finish ahead of a Sauber – maybe if I had been slightly better positioned right after the start, we could have beaten Ricciardo, but we can take this performance as a good step forward and look forward to what will happen in Spain.

Giedo van der Garde – 21st:

I didn’t get off to a good start but I was 16th with several cars at turn 4 and I saw Vergne spin and go off track. I tried to avoid him but couldn’t and we made contact, which destroyed my front wing and ended my race on the first lap. From that moment, there was nothing more I could do but charge head down and attack, but after losing so much time due to my unscheduled pit stop on the first lap and suffering with my tires after my fourth stop, I couldn’t fight anyone. From there, I just made sure to bring the car home and use it as an additional step in my learning.

Despite everything, it was a good weekend for the team. The developments put on my teammate’s car worked well, and there will be a new step in Spain as I will have the same package as Charles. From there, I think my season will be different. We will arrive at circuits that I know well, from GP2, World Series, and F1, and with the new improvements coming, we have reasons to be optimistic. The first four races were exactly as I expected – quite tough, but I have constantly learned and the whole team supports me. I feel good physically and mentally, and I can’t wait to do it again in Barcelona.