Friday: Caterham will work on the tires this evening
After good results in Italy at the Monza circuit, Charles Pic and Giedo Van der Garde are now turning their attention to Singapore to once again beat the two Marussia cars. It's time to get to work for the Malaysian team as the drivers have noted some balance issues with the car, particularly regarding the tires.
Charles Pic – 22nd and 20th
« The first practice session was okay even though we lacked a bit of pace. The main issue was understeer, especially mid-corner on the first two segments. We made some progress throughout the session but during the last lap, the tire performance dropped, which complicated our analysis.
During the second practice session, the car’s balance was better. The grip on the track improved, and the changes we made made us realize we were heading in the right direction. We then fitted the Supersofts: their temperature was correct even though there was a bit of oversteer, especially at the entry of the corners.
On the long stints, our times were correct and the Supersofts performed well. As time went on, there was a drop in temperature and we must control that.
Giedo Van der Garde – 21st and 19th
The first session didn’t go too badly for me. Like Charles, I experienced understeer on the first two laps and the front tires just didn’t have enough grip.
After the first practice session, we made some changes to the ride height, the front camber, and the front anti-roll bar. The front tires worked better and were much easier to handle.
We did a very long stint with the Mediums to finish the session, then we switched to the Supersofts for the final stint. This leaves us with some interesting options to work on tonight and I’m sure we’ll make progress tomorrow.
