Toro Rosso enjoy improved tyre degradation
Toro Rosso had a good first day at Singapore, with a damp first session and a good preparation session during FP2 in the dark. The team was especially happy to see a much better tyre degradation after previous years posed a problem in that area.
Jaime Alguersuari (STR5-03):
First Practice Session - Best lap 1.55.160, pos. 5th, 20 laps
Second Practice Session - Best lap 1.50.191, pos. 17th, 31 laps
“A positive start to the weekend, especially doing a lot of running on high fuel loads in the second session. We should not read too much into my P5 in the first session, which was complicated by the wet track. In the second session I did my quick lap early on, after which the conditions improved, so I am quite confident with the results of the long run. We know the track will improve tomorrow and now we just have to keep on working to follow that development. There was just one moment, when I touched the wall: I was on the soft tyres which I always find more difficult to drive on, because although they are obviously quicker, they are more complicated to adapt to as the rear end of the car moves a lot more and I just clipped the wall at Turn 19. It’s very hot inside the car and you feel there is not enough oxygen, but I am in much better shape than when I first came here last year.”
Sebastien Buemi (STR5-02):
First Practice Session - Best lap 1.55.523, pos. 8th, 15 laps
Second Practice Session - Best lap 1.50.896, pos. 18th, 35 laps
“We started the first session in the wet, which made it more complicated to work through our programme although we were able to gather the data we wanted by running with the F Duct for a few laps. We had no problems on the car today which is another good point. I think the long runs gave us a very good understanding of both types of tyre. I was unable to get the maximum out of the soft tyres on the first two laps, because I made some mistakes, so I am a bit disappointed with my performance in terms of pure lap time, but that’s not so important on a Friday. However, it helps if you get up to speed straight away as it is important to be able to follow the development of the track. All in all a good day, even if we are sweating a lot!”
Laurent Mekies, Chief Engineer: “This morning on Buemi’s car, we carried out another development test on the F Duct, as we had done in Monza, even though again, we had no intention of using it on this circuit which requires maximum downforce. We also had to contend with a damp track, but we have to get used to it as we can expect this Equatorial weather throughout the weekend, being ready to deal with sudden showers. Therefore it was good for the drivers to complete some laps in these conditions. Jaime had a very good day: we saw him sideways a few times on TV, including one contact with the wall, but he put in a strong performance on both short and long runs. With both cars, we concentrated on race trim, doing extremely long runs to assess tyre performance. Tyre consistency has very much improved compared to the last two years, because tyre degradation used to be a problem here and today their behaviour was much better. Apart from that, we tackled the usual Singapore challenges of the bumpy track, trying to establish the best ride configuration for the cars.”
