Saturday: Carbon Salad and Regrets for Caterham
In the rhythm of the cars in front of them, the Caterhams pay a high price for their off-track excursions. Giedo van der Garde, who damaged his front wing early in the session, was unable to improve his time due to two yellow flags, notably because of the incident involving his teammate, Charles Pic.
Giedo van der Garde – 15th and 21st (in Q1):
Honestly, I am disappointed with where we finished today, because we could have ultimately finished higher. We made some changes to the car overnight and it was better in Free Practice 3, so I felt good for qualifying.
Postponements of the start of qualifying were obviously not ideal, but I was very calm and eager to get out. It was, of course, the same conditions for everyone and it was very tricky: I went through a puddle on my first stint and spun, so I had to return to the pits to get a new nose, but the guys did a great job allowing me to get back out quickly, and we were doing quite well. With a few minutes remaining in Q1, we switched to intermediate tires, and the car was great. On my last stint, I was improving but had to slow down due to a double yellow flag, which ended my chances. It’s a shame because I know we would have finished higher, but sometimes, that’s how it goes.
Now, we have work to do to prepare for the race. Starting [from the back of the grid], we just need to make sure we can avoid any problems at the start and focus on reaching the end of what will be my first Grand Prix. If it rains again, at least we’ll know what to expect with the track, so I’m looking forward to it.
Charles Pic – 16th and 22nd (in Q1):
« Sometimes, qualifying goes the way it did today. We obviously didn’t finish where we wanted, but for a large part of the session, we looked very good, especially halfway through when we were making very good times.
We came in to put on the intermediate tires with about 5 minutes remaining, and for the first lap, it was difficult: there was a lot of standing water and it was complicated to keep the car on the track, but it improved very quickly, and I started pushing before driving over the white line, which spun me around and I hit the wall, forcing me to come back in. Until then, I was faster, but sometimes luck is not on your side.
Our pace was good in today’s conditions, the same as many cars in front, but it is obviously important to finish our fastest laps: today we didn’t do that, but this speed gives us reasons to be positive.
