First points for rookie Vergne
Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Jean-Eric Vergne has scored his first points in only his second race in Formula One. The Frenchman finished the Malaysian Grand Prix in 8th place. Team mate Daniel Ricciardo crossed the line in 12th position.
Jean-Eric Vergne (STR7-03)
Race finish: 8th
“To from eighteenth on the grid to eighth and in the points at the end is great. I stayed out for a long time on the intermediates after the start and then the Red Flag came along to help me so I was able to switch to extreme wets on the grid. If I had to resume behind the Safety Car on the intermediates it would have been very hard to stay on track! As soon as the track was dry enough I came in again for intermediates but I lost a bit of time before I made the switch to slicks. After that I was catching Di Resta, but with the backmarkers in between us I could not get close enough to pass, so I just managed the situation, concentrating on bringing the car home. So I am happy to settle for this eighth place and I plan to keep improving step by step. After these two opening races, the overall performance has been quite good and I feel we can make progress in China starting from this good base line.”
Daniel Ricciardo (STR7-01)
Race finish: 12th
“Unfortunately, after being delayed in the early stages, when I lost places after the start in the rain, I never managed to fight my way back into the points. I think there were moments in the race when I ran at quite a good pace, but I did not have that extra edge to move up the order. When the track was drying before the pit stops that is when I again lost time, so of course I am a bit disappointed, but there are still eighteen races remaining and I’m sure I will have plenty more opportunities to do well.”
Franz Tost: “In Melbourne we scored points with Daniel and now in Sepang, it was the turn of our rookie driver, Jean-Eric to secure his first ever Formula 1 points, with a strong drive to eighth place. As is often the case in Malaysia, we witnessed a very exciting race in which Jean-Eric did an excellent job as it was the first time he has raced a Formula 1 car in wet conditions. He made no mistakes and produced really good lap times and so this eighth place is well deserved. These four points are also the result of excellent work from the team, making the correct decisions as regards pit stops and tyre strategy as well as managing the complicated situation while the race was suspended. Daniel lost too much time in the early stages of the race to fight back into the points, but his lap times in the later part were very good. The STR7 performed quite well this afternoon in both the wet and the dry and finally congratulations to our engine partner Ferrari for this important win.”
