Friday: The Toro Rosso drivers have a card to play

Jean-Eric Vergne – 13th and 5th:

« It’s really nice to get back to driving after the holidays, especially on this fantastic track. This Friday went really well for us. The morning conditions weren’t ideal, as it was too wet for dry tires and too dry for wet condition tires, but we still learned some things that could be useful later this weekend, even though the tires never reached the right temperature. Then, we had a good second practice session, with a car that showed excellent pace on one lap. The long runs are a bit more difficult, but overall, I feel like I have a good car this weekend, whether we’re driving on a dry or wet track. Probably one of the best first days I’ve had: there were no problems and the car seems to be working well. »

Daniel Ricciardo – 9th and 16th:

The conditions this morning were those that nobody likes, with parts of the circuit dry and others wet. We ran on intermediates, but the dry parts were damaging the tires. In the afternoon, we split the work between the two cars. We tried a setup on my car that we thought would work, but unfortunately, it didn’t. However, the good news is that JEV [Editor’s Note: Jean-Eric Vergne] seems to be on pace, so we can look at his data and find a good compromise for both cars. I’m not happy to be at the bottom of the timesheets, but there’s no reason to be discouraged, as I feel we can do something good tomorrow and aim for good grid positions with our two cars.