Friday: Caterham successfully evaluates its new parts
Caterham was counting heavily on its new package to take a step forward in terms of performance compared to Marussia. After the first day of free practice in Barcelona, the assessment is positive and the green single-seater seems to have the upper hand over the Russian team's car.
Heikki Kovalainen – 16th (FP1):
« For me, it was a pretty good session even though we lost a bit of time due to a mechanical issue. Once it was sorted out, we more or less completed the planned program. As the session started on a wet track, everyone limited their track time, so our loss is quite minimal. During this session, we mainly focused on comparing the new parts we have here, and it is nice to see that the car behaves better than the one I drove in Bahrain. The balance has been improved, particularly in the middle of the corner as well as in slow and fast curves. It is therefore easier to push, but with the limited running on dry conditions, it’s too early to quantify the real gain. The rest of the weekend should unfold in better weather conditions, so we will learn more. »
Charles Pic – 21st (FP2):
« After missing free practice 1, I was looking forward to trying the new parts during FP2. In my first stints, the car had quite a bit of understeer in slow and medium-speed corners, so we made some adjustments and the balance started to improve in the following stints. Tire degradation wasn’t too bad, regardless of the compound, but we still have work to do to get them up to temperature so they can work properly as quickly as possible. We will look into this tonight and try to see how we can optimize the settings to improve the overall balance. »
Giedo van der Garde – 17th and 19th:
« With this morning’s weather, we didn’t do as many laps as we would have liked during free practice 1, but I was still pleased with the car’s behavior. We didn’t have KERS during FP1, which clearly cost us 3 tenths per lap, but we focused on testing the new parts, so even if the times weren’t good, it was more important to gather as much information as possible. In the afternoon, we continued with the evaluation of the new features and definitely made progress. The car’s balance on medium tires was good, whether on long stints or shorter ones, and I think we showed a good pace, but we still need to work on the car’s behavior. It already has much better traction out of corners, which is very positive. Now we have the evening ahead of us, and we will focus on improving the settings to be able to push to the maximum in qualifying and put ourselves in a good position for the race. »
