Friday: Caterham in Search of the Right Balance

Heikki Kovalainen – 19th (FP1):

« It was nice to get back in the car, especially at Suzuka, which is, for me, the best track in the world. We completed a normal Free Practice 1 session and from the first laps, the car behaved well and the overall balance was better than last time, in Monza. The steering responds better which gives confidence to attack and maintain control in the corners.

Earlier in the session, the braking balance was good. But in the last corner, it was slipping a bit because the tires were getting hotter at the end of the lap. The car was a bit twitchy in turns 6 and 7, but it was the opposite in turns 13 and 14 where it was very stable. We had some issues with traction, so we worked on that for the second stint.

On the second stint, the rear didn’t perform as well at high speed, particularly in the first sector. However, we had improved braking stability and the rear tire degradation was good. During the last stint, the tires began to wear, so a true comparison with the other two stints was difficult. We tried different rear wing settings and the balance shifted towards more oversteer, but overall it was positive. I finished the session satisfied with the work accomplished.

Charles Pic – 19th (FP2):

I was back in the car for free practice 2 and immediately got to work on a set of hard tires. Initially, the car wasn’t great in high-speed sections, there was a bit too much understeer, so we added some front downforce for the next stint. It improved the balance slightly, but it wasn’t great yet. It was the same with the mediums, but for the long runs, we made changes to the anti-roll bar and it got better, but it still wasn’t sufficient. On corner entry, the car was calmer, and we had reduced the mid-corner understeer. Anyway, it’s not too bad, and I think there’s room for improvement for tomorrow.

Giedo van der Garde – 21st and 20th:

« Free practice 1 was okay. The balance wasn’t too bad, but when the tires started to wear, it oversteered more than I wanted, and we had to add downforce to control that, mainly in the low-speed sections. It wasn’t bad in the fast sections, but we increased the downforce for the second stint, and at the beginning, it was a bit better. We opted for the second aerodynamic configuration we were trying, and unfortunately, I went off in turn 9 at the end of the stint; it was the end of FP1, but we had 15 laps, so it wasn’t too crippling.

At the start of Free Practice 2, the balance was better, but I still had a bit of understeer in the first sector and oversteer at the end of the second, and not enough traction in turns 11 and 17. For the medium-tire stint, we added some front downforce, but I couldn’t set a fast lap. We finished with long runs starting with the hard tires, and they lasted 20 laps. To be honest, I didn’t feel there was much difference between the two compounds, but we’ll look at the data and see where we can improve for tomorrow.