Buemi outpaces Bourdais in difficult qualifying session for Toro Rosso
It was a disappointing qualifying session for the Scuderia Toro Rosso at the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne as both drivers failed to make it to Q2. Rookie Buemi will start the Australian race from 16th position tomorrow while team mate Bourdais will be the last to depart from the grid.
Sebastien Buemi (STR4-01)
"I have to say I found the pace at which qualifying happens rather quick! You go out, you come back, you change tyres, you go out again. You need to stay relaxed. I think we did quite a good job with what we had and missed out on Q2 by half a tenth. I am quite happy, as these days have been something of a test session for us and we improved the car quite a lot from yesterday morning through to now. I have taken confidence from what I have done so far and feel I am going to be capable of doing this job, even if I am quite young. The visibility in the sunshine was a bit better than yesterday, but we have to get used to it."
Third Practice Session: Best lap 1.27.192, pos. 16th, 17 laps
Qualifying Session: Best lap 1.26.503, pos. 16th
Sebastien Bourdais (STR4-02)
"It was closer than expected to getting to Q2 from a team point of view as Seb just missed out on 15th place to the McLaren by a fraction. My car wasn't too bad: on my second run I made a slight mistake and on my third, unfortunately my out lap was too slow and I did not get the tyres up to temperature. But it's encouraging, as the Red Bull car is going well and we are not as far off the pace as I had expected. We have made good progress in terms of understanding the car. Starting last, it will be a tough race, but I will attack as much as I can and hope the race is as eventful as last year."
Third Practice Session: Best lap 1.27.152, pos. 15th, 16 laps
Qualifying Session: Best lap 1.26.964, pos. 20th
Giorgio Ascanelli: "It was positive that the cars ran reliably all day and I think Buemi made a good debut as a rookie driver in F1."
