Saturday: Giedo van der Garde places Caterham in Q2

Charles Pic – 19th and 22nd:

« The day started well for me on Saturday. During the free practice 3, in the first stint, the car’s balance immediately felt better than during Friday’s sessions, especially in the middle of the corners, making it easier to place the car where I wanted in the turns. Overnight, we also improved the downforce levels, so the package seemed better. For the second stint, I made a slight change to improve grip, and that also worked, so we switched to mediums with a car that was performing well, as confirmed during the performance stint.

For the qualifying, the rain started just before the session, but it wasn’t too heavy, so we immediately went out on intermediates and had a good pace on the wet. My first stint was good, and a dry line began to appear as I returned to the pits. Unfortunately, I was called to the weighbridge, which cost us the time needed to do three laps on a set of dry tires, so the team decided to send me out on intermediates for the second stint, and unfortunately, that didn’t work. I’m obviously pleased for the team that Giedo made it to Q2, but now my goal is to fight for a good result tomorrow, and with the weather possibly being variable again like today, we’ll have some great opportunities to fight in the race.

Giedo van der Garde – 20th and 14th:

What a fantastic day! I am so thrilled for the whole team to have been able to be in Q2 for the second time this year, and to have finished well ahead of the Marussia and to start the race in 14th position. It was a brave gamble to be the first to go out on dry tires, and on the first lap, it seemed not to pay off, but then in the last lap of Q1, I put everything together as it should be and finished the session in the best place we had ever been in Q1. I must say I didn’t believe it when my engineer Juan told me where we were – I was at the top of Eau Rouge on a deceleration lap and he said I was 3rd! It was such a feeling for me, the team, and everyone who supports me.

In Q2, we knew that if it stayed dry, we could aim for 14th place and we went out on mediums knowing we had to keep pushing as the track improved. I think we could have been a bit faster if we had gone out a little later, but, realistically, not enough to make it to Q3. So finishing 14th, with over half a second ahead of our closest rivals, was the goal and we achieved that thanks to everyone’s work.

Saturday started well for the guys who did a very good job overnight, making numerous changes to the car which meant I started with a much better balance and the oversteer encountered on Friday was gone. Free practice 3 was a good session for me and we made progress again with our runs on hards and mediums which worked well on the performance run, but we knew there was more to come in qualifying. We couldn’t have dreamed of finishing Q1 in 3rd position, but we took advantage of the conditions today and this 14th position is just reward for being brave and taking our chances.