Toro Rosso's retire on same lap
It was a tough race for both our drivers in the heat and humidity under the Singapore floodlights. Mechanical problems affected both Jaime (brakes)and Sébastien (gearbox) forcing them both to retire on lap 48.
Sébastien Buemi (STR4-03) Retired
“The start was good for me as I got past Kimi and was going well, but towards the end of the first run, I began to suffer with tyre degradation. The first pit stop went well and I rejoined in P12. After that the Safety Car came out, bunching up the field. I was behind Kimi again and pushing hard until my second pit stop, when we had a big problem as no fuel went in and I had to come in again. Finally, I had an issue with the gearbox which meant I had to stop. I am very disappointed that we had reliability problems in a race where we might have got a good result.”
Jaime Alguersuari (STR4-02) Retired
“It would have been difficult for me to do better today, as conditions in the race in terms of the track and the heat were very tough. I ran at my own pace and then I was stopped with a brake problem. Now we go to Suzuka where I hope to do better and finish the race with no technical issues.”
Franz Tost: “Both drivers got an okay start, Buemi moving up to twelfth and Alguersuari was fourteenth. Buemi defended his position, until he was passed by Raikkonen. The first pit stop for Buemi went according to plan. Then we had a major problem at Jaime’s first stop, as he tried to drive away before the lollipop was up and this damaged the fuel rig. As a consequence, when Sébastien came in for his second stop, no fuel went in and we had to bring him in to refuel again. Towards the end, we called him back to the pits, as we could see he was losing oil pressure in the gearbox, for reasons we must now investigate. When Jaime made his second pit stop, we saw that there was a problem with the front right brake, the cause of which we have yet to identify, so on safety grounds we decided to retire him.”
