Friday: Caterham hopes to progress in Bahrain
After a race that disappointed both drivers in China, Caterham called on its former driver Heikki Kovalainen to assist in the fine-tuning of its cars. The development work is underway and satisfies Charles Pic. He and Giedo van der Garde are hoping for a better result than in China.
Charles Pic – 19th and 19th: « We made some progress today, and I think we can be quite satisfied with the work we did during FP1 and FP2. In this morning’s session, we used the car in the same configuration as in China and completed a normal FP1 program using only the hard tires while working on a baseline setup. During FP2, we fitted new parts to the rear of the car and noticed better grip, which is a positive point. We noted that it caused a bit of understeer, which we will need to work on for qualifying, but the lap time achieved was a good indicator in relation to our standings, so overall, today was a good day. »
Heikki Kovalainen – 20th [Free Practice 1]: « It was great to be back in the car and fantastic to work with the team again. Today’s priority was to offer my feedback on the 2013 car in the specification used in the first three races of the year, compared to the one I drove last year, and to give my opinion on the 2013 tires. The first impression I had of this car, which is clearly more similar to the 2012 car than the car that will be used most of the time this season, is that it’s more difficult to find the right balance compared to last year, and the 2013 tires degrade much faster than those of previous years. After one session, I clearly didn’t have enough time in the car to see how much we could adjust the car’s behavior just with the settings, but I was able to provide quite a bit of feedback to the team, which I believe could be useful for settings and tires, especially thinking about Spain where we will have more new elements. »
Giedo van der Garde – 22nd [Free Practice 2]: « After not driving this morning, I got back to work during FP2 and completed a normal Friday afternoon program, which includes running on both tire compounds, on short and long stints. Tire degradation is quite high, especially on the mediums, but they heat up well, which suggests that if we can manage the tire degradation level, the track will suit us better than in the last race in China. »
