Friday: Pic and Van der Garde juggled with the tires at Caterham

Charles Pic: 21st and 20th:

« This Friday was good for us. We focused mainly on tire degradation and the overall balance of the car. We had a bit of understeer in the session this morning, so we tried some setup changes and it seems to be working. In the afternoon, we had to change our plans with the arrival of rain, but it gave us the opportunity to do seven laps with intermediate tires, which could be useful for Saturday and Sunday. We also did our first laps on medium tires, and their wear is good as far as we are concerned. I made a small mistake in my fastest lap, which cost me some time, so I think there is room for improvement tomorrow.

We also worked a lot in the garage between runs to reduce runtime, and everything is working well. I’m having a really good week in Malaysia so far, and I’ve been very busy but I’m enjoying it. We’ve had a very warm welcome everywhere we’ve gone and I think that will continue throughout the weekend.

Giedo van der Garde: 19th and 21st:

« We had a good day. We completed a large number of laps with all the tires, except for the wet ones, and we were able to complete our program. In the first session, everything was normal. We focused on the hard tires and their degradation. Our pace with these tires and their wear rate is encouraging, but we will need to work a bit more to get them to the right temperature while maintaining the first stage of their degradation for as long as possible.

During the second session, we did some long and shorter runs with the hards, then one with the mediums, and finally a stint on intermediates when the rain arrived. We collected good data. Compared to Melbourne, we are in a much better position for tomorrow and Sunday than we were last week.