Saturday: Toro Rosso had hoped for better
After placing one driver in Q3 and another in Q2 in Australia, the Toro Rosso team was expecting a more challenging weekend in Malaysia. Ricciardo finished 14th and Vergne 18th, with the Frenchman being eliminated in Q1. The Italian team hoped to do a little better but is convinced they can make up ground tomorrow during the race.
Daniel Ricciardo – 15th and 15th
Today’s performance was okay, but obviously not as good on paper as last Saturday when I was in Q3. Looking at the times, it’s very close, so a tenth of a second could have made a difference of several positions. That being said, the people behind me are close as well. I think we are more or less where we thought we’d be, as we expected Q3 to be a harder target to reach than in Melbourne.
I’m quite happy with the lap I did, it was clean and I don’t think I could have done better. We have a good package for the race and I’ll try to fight for some points. We have 56 laps to gain positions and yesterday our performance on the long stints wasn’t bad. But if it rains, everyone will have their chance and there will be more opportunities, so that could help.
Jean-Eric Vergne – 16th and 18th
«Obviously, I’m a bit disappointed with this result. I made a mistake in the first corner by locking up a front wheel very hard. This created so much vibration that I had to pit, and it was the end of my qualifying session. On the positive side, at least I was able to save a set of Medium tires for the race.»
There is also a chance of rain for tomorrow, so anything can happen, but no matter the conditions, I feel that our car can be competitive in the race. Compared to Melbourne, the car is overall the same, so the difference in qualifying between here and there is due to the fact that the midfield is very close, and the fact that I didn’t manage to set a time with the Mediums, which explains my position on the grid.
Laurent Mekies – Chief Engineer
In terms of results, it’s not as good as last week. We are fighting in the same group in the middle of the pack with Williams, Sauber, and Force India and while we were ahead of this group in Australia, that is not the case here. We’re only talking about two or three tenths of a second from one end of the group to the other. This means we still have a good chance to do well tomorrow.
Regarding Jean-Eric’s case, he didn’t really set a time, as he locked a wheel but that’s part of the game. Daniel did what he had to, but it was so close that just a few tenths made the difference. In Melbourne, we started ahead of this group and after just one lap, we were behind, so let’s hope it will be the opposite tomorrow!
