Buemi ready for race with wet weather set-up
Qualifying for Toro Rosso could have been a little bit better today, especially for Jaime Alguarsuari. While he opted for a dry set-up, he made a mistake on his flying lap and therefore could not do better than his teammate who chose to anticipate possible wet weather during the race.
Sebastien Buemi, STR6-04:
FP3: Best lap 1.33.948, pos. 17th, 21 laps
Qualifying Best lap: (Q1) 1.33.635, (Q2) 1.33.546, Pos. 16th
“Given how little track time I had yesterday, in general I am pleased with my performance this afternoon. I had the feeling I got the maximum out of the car, which we had decided to run in rain set-up to be ready for a wet race tomorrow. Jaime has decided to stay with a dry set-up so now we must wait and see which one of us has made the right choice.”
Jaime Alguersuari, STR6-01:
FP3: Best lap 1.34.125, pos. 18th, 19 laps
Qualifying Best lap: (Q1) 1.33.658, (Q2) 1.33.698, Pos. 17th
“This is where we are at the moment in qualifying. Maybe if it rains tomorrow, then it will prove to have been a good idea to have used the extra set of tyres this afternoon. Perhaps I could have gone one or two tenths quicker, but no more than that. Nevertheless, I am pleased that we managed to make a step forward on the car after this morning’s session, improving it for qualifying and I believe I have a good set-up for the race too."
Giorgio Ascanelli, Team Principal:
“We have ended up in the positions that generally reflect our current level, even allowing for the fact that neither driver got a perfect lap on their last run. Currently, we now seem to be closer to Sauber than to Force India that has made a step forward and Williams is also going better. This is not a circuit where I expect a big difference in pace between qualifying and the race for us, because it is a high downforce track and the low temperature means that it is less critical to save your tyres, which is something we seem to have been doing a bit better than others up until now. Therefore I don’t expect a big change in pace tomorrow. Clearly, looking at the cars it is obvious that Seb has gone for a wet set-up, assuming it could rain tomorrow, while Jaime has stayed with the dry. There’s not much difference between the two and in fact, this afternoon, Jaime’s mistake at Turn 2 was more influential on their respective lap times.”
