Saturday: Buemi takes Toro Rosso into Q3

Like their “big sister” Red Bull, Scuderia Toro Rosso seemed at ease during the various testing sessions in China. Thus, both Sébastien started the qualification full of confidence.

Unfortunately for Bourdais, his journey ended in Q3 due to a mistake. But Toro Rosso still had reasons to smile with Buemi reaching Q2, then Q3, eventually securing the 10th fastest time, the best qualification of his young career and for Toro Rosso in 2009!

Sébastien Buemi – 13th and 10th:

« I am really happy to be in Q3, it’s more than I expected. I don’t think it would have been possible to do better. With a low fuel load, the car was very good, but we didn’t have any soft tires left for Q3. So I had to do three fast laps with hards, and considering that, we can be very satisfied with the result. The team really worked well, did a good job improving the car since the beginning of the season and today, it worked very well. Now, I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s race. »

Sébastien Bourdais – 14th and 15th (qualified 16th):

« I made a mistake, it’s as simple as that. I tried to optimize my trajectory to take turn 8 but I was too far outside, on the marbles and dirt on the left side of the track and the car didn’t turn well. Because of the dirt on my tires, the following turns were a disaster, making me lose about half a second. Yesterday was very promising, it didn’t work well today. Tomorrow, I’ll see what I can do, and even though it’s hard to gain places here, I’ll keep pushing. »

Giorgio Ascanelli – Technical Director:

« It is fair to say that we are learning a lot about the car and we must congratulate Buemi for reaching Q3 after only three practice sessions. He is still on a very steep learning curve, although not everything was perfect in Q2. We had to use all the soft tires in the first two sessions to ensure reaching Q3. I also want to thank Red Bull Technology because the car is clearly well designed. I think Red Bull Racing deserves its pole position and I am happy for them. »