Van der Garde claims one of best ever races
The feelings among the Caterham drivers remained very different through the race, as Charles Pic was very unhappy with his car and Giedo van der Garde enjoyed a perfectly balanced CT03. Both finished ahead of the Marussia cars.
Charles Pic, car 20, chassis CT03-#6: “The car’s been understeering all weekend and it just carried on the same today in the race. I had an ok start, passed Chilton and Bottas by the end of lap two and was immediately pulling away until the first stop on lap eight when we went from options to primes.
“In the second stint the car just didn’t have any balance I could work with. I was ahead of Giedo but the team told me to let him pass so I did but with the way the car felt I couldn’t get any more out of it. That was the same pretty much right to the flag – in the final stint it felt a bit better but still nowhere near enough what I’d wanted.”
Giedo van der Garde, car 21, chassis CT03-#5: “I have to say that’s one of my best ever races. The car was great today and the work the boys did in the stops, they were really on it and that helped a lot in the race.
“At the start I was ahead of Raikkonen who made contact with my left rear in turn one. I nearly spun after the contact, and lost a bit of time to my teammate and Chilton, but both Charles and I passed him by the end of the second lap and then we also got Bottas. I’m obviously pleased the luck went my way this time and I made it through the first lap and from there the car was feeling great, just really well balanced.
“In the first stop I went from softs to mediums and I could really push everywhere – I had a bit of oversteer but nothing too bad. I was behind my teammate after the stops but had more pace and the team made the call to let me past – with clear air I could really push and opened up a gap to him right to the flag.
“We know we need more luck and things to happen to the cars ahead to be able to get back tenth place in the championship, but it’s still good to have finished so far ahead of our nearest rivals. We need to carry that form through for the final two races and I know that if things come our way, we can do what’s required to finish my rookie season on a really positive note.”
