Giedo van der Garde confident Caterham played it right in Silverstone qualifying
Charles Pic (front) shares a moment with Caterham team-mate Giedo van der Garde (centre) in the garage at Silverstone. The pair will hope to pip Marussia in Sunday's British Grand Prix. - Credit: Archant
Giedo van der Garde is looking forward to Sunday's British Grand Prix – even though his qualifying was limited to one flying lap and he will start the race from the back of the grid.
Caterham will be finally hoping for a bit of good luck on home soil at their fourth British Grand Prix. - Credit: Archant
The Dutch rookie was handed a five-place grid penalty following a pair of collisions at the previous round in Canada.
And as a result the Hingham-backed outfit opted for just one run at qualifying, in turn saving new tyres for Sunday's race – something Van der Garde hopes will pay off.
'We knew we had the penalty so our focus was just on long runs this morning (in free practice three), seeing if we could improve the car for the race and I have to say I think it was a good decision from me and the team to decide this and in the end, we knew always we would be where we are,' he said.
'In the end we did the right choice and with just one lap in qualifying and without any performance running this morning, we were still ahead of (Marussia's Max) Chilton.
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'So hopefully we can fight and stay in front of the Marussias but we will have to see. I think it will be a good fight.'
Team-mate Charles Pic will start ahead of both Marussias on Sunday, while Van der Garde's previous running at Silverstone will hopefully help him also push the Frenchman – it is the tracks new to the Dutchman that have been more problematic this year.
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'It always helps if you are at a track you know,' he acknowledged. 'Canada I did not know and you always suffer a little bit with that. But this track I know and the following tracks I know too, so that should be good.
'The season has been good so far. We are still improving and we have to work hard and try to improve here and there, and I think we've had some good moments and some bad moments. So it is all about the learning curve.
'But I'm enjoying it of course.'
