Toro Rosso targets points from 14th and 16th on grid
Toro Rosso drivers Sebastian Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari had different views on their performances. Buemi was satisfied and will start from 14th on the grid, while Alguersuari is 16th but still hopes to get some points in the race, in line with recent performances.
Sebastien Buemi, STR6-03:
FP3: Best lap 1:49.679, pos. 12th, 18 laps
Q: Best lap (Q1) 1:48.753; (Q2) 1:48.634, Pos. 14th
"In the end, I am happy with my performance as I feel I managed good laps in both Q1 and Q2. It’s true we always lack a bit of pace in qualifying, but we have seen recently that does not rule out our chances of having a good race. So I hope that will be the case tomorrow, also taking into account we managed to save a set of new Supersoft tyres. It will be an extremely long and tough night and it will be important to maintain concentration from start to finish. If we can do that, there is every reason to think we can deliver a good result."
Jaime Alguersuari, STR6-02:
FP3: Best lap 1:50.547, pos. 18th, 17 laps
Q: Best lap (Q1) 1:49.588; (Q2) 1:49.862, Pos. 16th
"This afternoon, I did what I could and tried my best, but while yesterday I was happy with the car, that was not the case today and I struggled a lot with the set-up, the main problem being a lack of grip. Therefore I feel what I achieved was the maximum I could do, with the car as it was. Tomorrow everything can change in what is usually the longest race of the year in very tough conditions for the cars and drivers."
Giorgio Ascanelli, Technical director:
“So far, we have had a couple of eventful days and although we got both cars into Q2, we are not in that good shape. Our grid positions owe something to Kobayashi’s unfortunate accident and the problems of others. We have lost pace compared to Monza. Due to the lack of track time yesterday because of Seb’s accident, for which I do not blame him and Jaime’s technical problem, there are a couple of set-up solutions we were unable to exploit. Because of this, we had to concentrate more on race preparation this morning and less on qualifying. In addition, we ran a technical solution yesterday that Jaime found to his liking, but I took the decision we could not run it for the rest of the weekend, as we had a problem with it. Therefore today, he did not have the same level of confidence in the car. As for Sebastien, he has had a less complicated time, giving him greater confidence in the car and he drove well, putting together a good lap, so we can be happy with him for that. What a driver needs here more than anything is confidence, therefore, as we make up for the time lost, I do believe we can be in better shape for the race tomorrow, especially because of the fact we focussed more on race set-up today.”
