Sunday: Caterham hoped for better from Monaco

Charles Pic – Retirement:

« It’s obviously disappointing that my race ended so early, especially since I had a very good start and was in 15th position ahead of Gutiérrez and just behind di Resta at the same pace. It seems the cause of my retirement was a gearbox problem, and the fire came from the exhausts that overheated. It seemed more dramatic than it was in the car – I could feel there was an issue and started to ease off, and as soon as the car stopped, there was a lot of smoke, but everything was quickly handled and the marshals did a superb job managing it without the intervention of the safety car.

As I said, it’s a shame because we had a good weekend up until then. The car felt nice in the race and the degradation levels were good on the long stints, and we thought we would only need to stop once, which could have placed us in the middle of the pack. However, we’ll be in Canada next time, another circuit where I believe we’ll be able to show how much the car’s pace continues to improve, and with a bit more luck, we’ll be in a position to have a better weekend.

Giedo van der Garde – 15th:

This has been a pretty crazy race! I got a good start from 15th place but then Maldonado hit me, damaging the floor and forcing me to pit for a new wing on the first lap. I came out 22nd and at that moment, even though I had a good pace and was catching up with the pack, it seemed like my race was over, especially when I lost the KERS on lap 10. We were able to restart the KERS and then Monaco did what it always does, and when the safety car came in after Massa’s crash, I was able to regain my lap and get back in the race. In the car, I felt like I couldn’t be more unlucky, but then on lap 45, I was with Chilton, Bianchi, and Maldonado when they had their collision. I didn’t really see what happened between them, but the red flag gave me the opportunity to start again, this time from 18th place.

During the restart, on soft tires with 28 laps to go, I was well set in 17th place after Chilton’s drive-through penalty, and then the safety car came out, moving me up to 14th after several cars pitted. I was right behind Bottas and in front of Gutiérrez, but unfortunately, after 13 laps, my tires were destroyed. Chilton was right behind me, and with the tire condition, I couldn’t hold him off, so I finished 15th.

After the way the race started, reaching the finish is really nice, but it is obviously not what we hoped for after such a good Saturday. However, it’s another race, new lessons learned and overall, a good weekend.