Saturday – Toro Rosso stops in Q3
The Scuderia Toro Rosso knew in advance that it would be difficult to shine in qualifying due to the very limited running of the STR4 before Melbourne. It is therefore not a surprise to see both drivers fail in Q3, despite a good pace that surprised the team and instills confidence for the rest of […]
The Scuderia Toro Rosso knew in advance that it would be difficult to shine in qualifying due to the very limited running of the STR4 before Melbourne. It is therefore not a surprise to see both drivers fail in Q3, despite a good pace that surprised the team and instills confidence for the rest of the season.
Buemi performed well to validate the final settings and fell short of Q2 by just a few hundredths. Sébastien Bourdais, the only French driver competing, made some mistakes that earned him the last place on the starting grid.
Buemi – 16th and 13th (qualified 16th):
« I have to say that I found the pace of the qualifying quite quick, you go out, come back, change tires, and go out again. You need to keep your cool. I think we did a good job because we missed Q2 by half a tenth.
« I am very happy, these last few days have been a bit like a private test session for us and we have improved the car a lot between yesterday morning and now. I have gradually gained confidence in what I have done and I feel that I am quite capable of doing this job, even though I am still young. The visibility with the sun was a bit better compared to yesterday, we have to get used to it. »
Sébastien Bourdais – 15th and 17th (qualified 20th):
« It was tighter than expected to make it into Q2 and Seb missed the 15th place in the McLaren by a fraction of a second. My car is not too bad, on my second attempt I made a small mistake and on my third, I was too slow on my out lap and couldn’t bring the tires up to the right temperature. »
« But it’s encouraging, the Red Bull car is running well, and we are not as far from the others as I had anticipated. We have made good progress in understanding the car. Starting last will be complicated for the race, but I will push as much as possible and hope that the race will be as eventful as last year.
Giorgio Ascanelli – Technical Director:
« It’s positive to see the car running all day without technical problems, and I think Buemi made a good start as a rookie in F1. »
