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Van der Garde adapting to F1

Giedo van der Garde clocked up 67 laps for Caterham on Thursday © Sutton Images

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Giedo van der Garde says he had to adapt to a number of new aspects in the Caterham today but feels he's starting to get used to a Formula One car.

Van der Garde moved up from GP2 to the test and reserve role at Caterham this season and enjoyed his first day in the car at Jerez on Thursday. Although he ended the day two seconds off the pace following a small spin late in the afternoon, van der Garde said that it didn't take him long to feel comfortable in the car.

"That was a good day," he said. "I'm happy because I put in a lot of time in the car and that was the first time I've been on track since Monza last year, so I had to spend a bit of time this morning getting back into the groove, but that came pretty quickly and then we got down to work. I'm very pleased because by the end of the day I was getting starting to get used to all the new things about F1 - there's a lot to learn but I know what I need to focus on so next time I'm in the car I'll definitely be able to get on the pace more quickly."

Van der Garde admitted that he still needs to improve his braking in the Caterham, as well as his use of the Pirelli tyres, but said he felt he got on top of some of the other aspects of Formula One quite quickly.

"There are a couple of real areas that I know I can work on - the first being the brakes. I'm used to a stiffer pedal on the GP2 car so I had to adapt my style a bit to get used to the F1 car, but that came quite early. The other area is getting the most out of the new tyres. The quickest lap time is pretty much straight out of the box and that means being on it as soon as you leave the pits. We used both DRS and KERS today and I felt pretty comfortable with both. DRS started to come naturally by the end of the day and with KERS there's more to come. Jarno will be working on maximising that tomorrow so I think the team will have more for me to work through on that system next time I'm in the car."

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