Toro Rosso struggle with car updates
Sebastian Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari have both been struggling since the very beginning of the Italian GP weekend. The cars had a difficult initial set-up and progress was hampered due to the unknown effects of the combination of new car updates for the Italian Grand Prix.
Sebastien Buemi, STR6-03:
FP3: Best lap 1:25.439, pos. 17th, 22 laps
Q: Best lap (Q1) 1:25.164; (Q2) 1:24.932, Pos. 16th
“I am satisfied with what I managed to do this afternoon, because getting into Q2 is not bad, given how little track time I got yesterday and my lap was okay. I was reasonably happy with my lap, but of course, it’s a bit hard to take after our much better qualifying in Spa a fortnight ago. We brought many new parts to try here and, in the end, especially because of my accident yesterday, we did not really have time to evaluate everything properly. Recent races have been very open and uncertain, so anything could happen tomorrow. We will just have to try our best and see where we are after 53 laps.”
Jaime Alguersuari, STR6-02:
FP3: Best lap 1:25.426, pos. 16th, 19 laps
Q: Best lap (Q1) 1:25.334, Pos. 18th
“Even if the result is not so good, I can be pleased with the fact that we have at least managed to improve the car since the start of practice, but my lap was simply not quick enough to move up to the next session. The pace was not there. Sebastien did a really good lap, so well done to him for getting into Q2. I have scored points before from starting eighteenth on the grid, so let’s see what happens tomorrow.”
Giorgio Ascanelli, Team Principal:
“We did a lot of work in the last weeks aimed specifically at this race: we worked on engine, brakes, aero, front and rear wings and we had many options when we came here. However, we did not start with a good set-up on Friday morning and since then we have been struggling. We therefore did not do a fantastic job, because although we can see the potential is there, we have been unable to unlock it. We will work to understand it, but we will have to wait a year to apply what we learn, as there is no other circuit on the calendar like Monza! Ferrari did a good job in giving us an exhaust solution that should have seen us move forward but we were unable to harness it. We brought two options for the front wing, because when we first conceived our Monza wing, we did not know we would have a new exhaust package and therefore we have had something of a messy time of it. Seb’s accident did not help, but I cannot blame him for our difficulties. Can we go better in race trim? As the saying goes, “les jeux sont faits.”
