Assessment: Toro Rosso nonetheless had hopes

Toro Rosso was the unluckiest team today. After qualifying sessions that predicted a top 15 finish at the end of the race, the start was not very good: due to an unfortunate race incident.

Jarno Trulli made a controlled off-track excursion. When he tried to rejoin the track, he caused panic in the pack, making Buemi and the drivers behind brake. Unfortunately, Bourdais couldn’t avoid everyone and even though he avoided Trulli, who was hit by Sutil, he crashed directly into his… teammate. The STR4 cars piled up and both drivers ended up in the gravel traps, cars stalled. An unfortunate retirement for a new version of Toro Rosso which promised improvements. Luck still does not seem to favor Bourdais, but Franz Tost blames no one this time.

Sébastien Bourdais – Withdrawal:

« When I realized it was slowing down in front of me, I didn’t have time to brake before taking off on the back of my teammate’s car, and I thought I was going to roll over. I’m not sure what happened, even though I saw that Trulli had gone sideways and came back onto the track. It’s very frustrating. »

Sébastien Buemi – Abandon:

« I didn’t quite understand what happened. What I know is that my start wasn’t very good, so Räikkönen and Kovalainen were able to overtake me before the first corner. Then, coming out of the second corner, Trulli spun, and I braked as hard as I could to avoid him. My teammate didn’t see that I was slowing down so much and couldn’t avoid me. He went over me, I even saw his tires on my helmet… and that’s it. »

Franz Tost – Director:

« When you start at the back of the grid, there is always a higher risk of accidents than at the front. Unfortunately today, Trulli went off the track and spun to get back on track afterward. He forced Buemi to go around him, and Bourdais collided with him. »

« On a positive note, the aerodynamic package we introduced here seemed more effective. We need to try to use it better in the upcoming races. »