Caterham F1 Team: Singapore Grand Prix FP3 & Qualifying

Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore - 21st September 2013 

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Weather
FP3: Dry; min / max track temp 34° - 32°, air temp 30° - 29°
Q1: Dry; min / max track temp 31°, air temp 29°

Fastest laps / positions:
FP3: VDG 1.48.931, 19^th / PIC 1.49.037, 20^th
Q1: PIC 1.48.111, 19^th / VDG 1.48.320, 20^th

Total laps:
FP3: VDG 17 / PIC 18
Q1: PIC 6 / VDG 6


Runplan

Charles Pic, car #20, chassis CT03-06

FP3
1802 – 1816: Run 1, 7 laps (medium tyres)
Changes: rear ride height, front wing flap angle
1826 – 1839: Run 2, 6 laps (medium tyres)
Changes: front / rear ride height, front wing flap angle
1852 – 1902: Run 3, 5 laps (supersoft tyres)

Q1
2106 – 2113: Run 1, 3 laps (supersoft tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle
2116 – 2122: Run 2, 3 laps (supersoft tyres)

Giedo van der Garde, car #21, chassis CT03-04

FP3
1803 – 1818: Run 1, 7 laps (medium tyres)
Changes: front / rear ride height
1826 – 1838: Run 2, 6 laps (medium tyres)
Changes: front / rear ride height, front wing flap angle
1851 – 1900: Run 3, 4 laps (supersoft tyres)

Q1
2106 – 2112: Run 1, 3 laps (supersoft tyres)
Changes: front wing flap angle
2116 – 2122: Run 2, 3 laps (supersoft tyres)


Driver quotes

Charles Pic: “We made a number of changes overnight for FP3 but on the first run it felt like we’d gone too much to the rear with the balance so the car felt unstable. We’d gone from predominantly understeer on Friday to too much oversteer on Saturday and even though the aero balance improved throughout the session the mechanical balance was still too much rearwards.

“In quali we waited for the first batch of cars to head out and then went for the first run on a new set of supersofts. The balance still wasn’t right, now the car had gone back to understeer but in the end the first run was ok and with the way the car was behaving I probably couldn’t have found too much more in qualifying. The good thing is that we have around seven tenths advantage over the Marussias and that’s good for us in the race as it means we can look at the fight ahead, not back. I’m looking forward to tomorrow as it’ll definitely be exciting and with the number of safety cars there’s been here over the years anything could happen.”

Giedo van der Garde: “FP3 wasn’t too bad – we definitely made some progress from Friday and even though there was still some of the understeer and front locking we’d had in FP1 and FP2 the car felt better. By the performance run at the end of the session I was pretty happy with where we’d got to so I was reasonably confident for qualifying.

“In Q1 we went for two runs on supersofts of one flying lap each. My first run was ok but I had a bit of traffic so I knew there was more time to come. On my second run I was pushing hard and just touched the wall which cost me a little bit of time, but overall I guess where we finished is ok. The main thing for the team is the gap we have to the cars behind so now it’s all about the race, making sure we avoid any problems and be there to take advantage of anything that comes our way.”