Toro Rosso struggling for pace
The Scuderia Toro Rosso has been struggling for pace all weekend long and this was once again displayed in the Turkish qualifying session. Sebastien Bourdais will start the race near Istanbul from the 20th position pon the grid and team mate Sebastian Buemi will start from 18th.
Sebastien Buemi
(STR4-03)
“We had a very tough time, especially with the soft compounds, as we were never able to get the most out of them. So the best thing we can do now is think hardabout the race and ensure we have the best possible strategy. It will be a difficult afternoon, starting so far back and managing the tyres, specifically the inevitable degradation on the front right. Okay, starting eighteenth I’m not really thinking of a points finish, but we will still give it our best shot.”
Third Practice Session: Best lap 1.29.167, pos. 18th,21 laps
Qualifying Session: Best lap 1.28.708, pos. 18th
Sebastien Bourdais
(STR4-01)
“All I know is that we lack grip and we are off the pace, even being two tenths off Seb (Buemi.) My first run wasn’t too bad, but I had degradation on my next one. Then we changed the tyre pressures a bit, but it seemed that as the session developed the Option began to work better and I was running the Prime which we felt suited us better. We’ve gone backwards a bit this weekend which is hard to take. In the race, I don’t think the difference between the tyres will be that much and in any case, it’s not just the tyres that are our problem this weekend.”
Third Practice Session: Best lap 1.29.076, pos. 17th, 19 laps
Qualifying Session: Best lap 1.28.918, pos. 20th
Laurent Mekies, Chief Engineer: “Overall, we have been struggling for pace all weekend, especially on the Option tyres, which showed up clearly in qualifying. The two drivers had different tyre tactics this afternoon, with Buemi only running the Option, aiming to finally make it work, while with Bourdais we concentrated on the Prime. We tried different set-up solutions across both cars through the weekend but nothing gave us the pace we were aiming for. We have to look at the data to try and understand the reason. Nevertheless, the weekend isn’t over and we have a long and hot race ahead of us, when we will be pushing very hard to do as well as possible.”
