Sunday: A good weekend for the Caterham team

Charles Pic – 15th:

I think it was a good race, I was thrilled with how it went. We managed the tire degradation well for most of the afternoon, but just before the last safety car intervention, I was ahead of Bottas and was expecting an exciting final few laps. We eventually finished 15th, which isn’t too bad, and we were well ahead of our closest rivals, so it’s a rather positive result, despite losing the gains made during the second safety car intervention.

For me, it was a good weekend, where we began to recapture some of the performance levels we glimpsed in Bahrain and Spain. The pit stops were good, we used a strategy that gave me a chance to fight against the Williams up to the checkered flag and we gathered a lot of information on the innovations introduced here, both from today and the aerodynamic work carried out yesterday. Overall, this puts us in a much better position than at the end of the Canadian Grand Prix, so we will be able to tackle Germany hoping to continue our momentum.

Giedo van der Garde – 18th:

« It was a frustrating afternoon to be honest, but there was nothing more I could do. We started the race using the strategy that began yesterday during the free practice 3 and the qualifying sessions, which was focused on managing tire degradation to take advantage of what might happen in front. The plan was going well and we were in a good position, but when the safety car came out for the first time, since we had already made our stop, we lost time compared to those who hadn’t stopped. Given our position, there was nothing more to expect from the race, so we continued as planned and it was working well in the last stint, but then we had the second safety car intervention right after my stop, so I was far behind again.

As there weren’t many laps left and I had fresh medium tires, I was able to push until the checkered flag and had a great battle with Chilton until the end. I passed him a few laps from the finish, but it was very tight on the track and I had to give the position back, which was unfortunate, but we had a great fight and without the safety car interventions, I would have been easily ahead of him.

Even though we arrived this weekend knowing we were going to have to fight, I think we’ve made progress by getting closer to where we want to be compared to our closest rivals. Next time it’s Germany, a track where I love racing and, after Silverstone, we can attack. That’s the goal this season, to keep learning, to keep fighting, and to never give up.