Saturday: Toro Rosso has not yet found the balance in Abu Dhabi
Struggling with the balance of their car, the Toro Rosso drivers could not achieve better than seventeenth and eighteenth positions following the qualifications for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Having made an error on his fastest lap, Jean-Eric Vergne is frustrated at missing out on Q2, despite having laid the groundwork to earn an additional fifteen minutes of qualifying.
Daniel Ricciardo – 18th and 17th:
« So far, it has been a tougher weekend for us than we expected. We definitely made progress today compared to where we were yesterday, which is positive, but in the end, it wasn’t enough to be higher up on the grid.
Everything went well on my side of the garage, except that I lost a lap on Medium tires when my headrest was moving and I had to come in to fix it. I think it motivated me to then deliver two good laps, and the pace on Soft tires was OK, proving that we have once again made progress, not only since yesterday but also compared to this morning.
However, we are not where we would like to be. Strategy will be key to having a good race tomorrow and, like in India, a one-stop strategy could be possible for some cars.
Jean-Eric Vergne – 16th and 18th:
« It’s quite frustrating to miss out on Q2 today. We’ve been struggling with understeer all weekend, we keep doing our best and I was really pushing hard. We really only had one lap to see where the balance was this afternoon, the car seemed to go the opposite way with oversteer and I made a mistake. It doesn’t mean I’ll have to fight with the car all the time tomorrow because there are always things we can do like adjusting the front flap or tire pressures to improve the situation for the race, but tomorrow evening will be tough. »
