Alguersuari 14th as Buemi stops on 3 wheels
After a number of very good races for Toro Rosso, Jaime and Sebastien were unable to get in any points scoring position today. Jaime had trouble getting up to speed while Sebastien abandoned after the right front wheel on his car came loose.
Jaime Alguersuari, STR6-02, Pos. 15th:
“I had more or less the same strategy as Perez, however he seemed to be one second a lap faster than me. I was unable to get past as I was hitting the limiter on the engine, so I could not find the extra speed needed to overtake. On top of that, I was losing my downforce from following the cars in front. I can’t remember the last time I found it so hard to overtake in a race. I always gave my maximum, but the performance was not there today. Now, I hope to fight back in Korea and try and battle with Sauber again for some points.”
Sebastien Buemi, STR6-03, Retired:
“I had a very good start, passing five cars and running P11. I even ran tenth for a few laps before my first pit stop. I came out of the pits and already at the first corner, I felt some vibration and I saw that the right front wheel was beginning to move. It had not been properly fitted at the pit stop, I’m not sure why and then it came off at Turn 4. There was no way I could drive back to the pits, so my race was over. It’s a shame, because it was looking as though we could have had a good race and scored some points.”
Franz Tost, Team Principal:
“First of all, on behalf of everyone at Toro Rosso, I want to congratulate Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing for winning a second consecutive Drivers’ Championship. Our weekend in Suzuka got off to a reasonably encouraging start on Friday, but from then on, it did not go so well. Today, we lost Sebastien early on in the race, when his right front wheel came off, for reasons which we are currently investigating, at the first pit stop. It is a great shame, as he had made a very good start, passing several cars to be lying eleventh, having made up four places from his grid position. Jaime lost three positions on the opening lap and from then on, he was unable to make any significant progress. There were signs that some of the updates we introduced here could produce an improvement in car performance and now we only have to wait a few days to see if we can exploit them better in Korea.”
