Toro Rosso hopeful to fight in top 10
Just like the other teams, Toro Rosso had to deal with the damp track conditions in the morning. Second practice proved to be more interesting for the team. Based on their performance today, the squad feels more competitive compared to Malaysia and hope to fight for a top 10 spot tomorrow.
Daniel Ricciardo, STR7-01:
FP1: Best lap 1:39.748, pos. 9th, 16 laps
FP2: Best lap: 1:37.616, pos. 12th, 33 laps
“FP1 was partly wasted because of the weather, the damp track meaning we only got a handful of clean laps. But the afternoon was better and I was happy with the balance of the car on the Prime, although I did not feel we gained that much in performance terms when switching to the Option. So this is one area we have to look into this evening; maybe the track conditions didn’t suit the Option so well. Generally, we are in a similar position, compared to others, as in the first two races, although I feel we are looking more competitive than in Malaysia. I am happier with the car here and hopefully that will mean we can fight for a top ten place.”
Jean-Eric Vergne, STR7-03:
FP1: Best lap: 1:39.768, pos. 10th, 14 laps
FP2: Best lap: 1:37.930, pos. 14th, 32 laps
“Another new circuit for me. I enjoyed it and I think I learned it quite quickly, although the few drops of rain this morning limited the number of laps I could do. We managed to do a lot more this afternoon which was positive. Daniel and I ran different set-ups and I think splitting the programme between the two cars worked well in that the engineers now have plenty of data to study tonight. I am not entirely happy with the feeling I had from the car, but I am quite confident that we can have a good car tomorrow and do well.”
Laurent Mekies, Chief Engineer:
“Today our programme with both cars involved the usual race preparation as well as evaluating a few new parts we have brought here. The programme was slightly disturbed by the rain in the morning, but we tried to catch up in FP2, when we did a lot of laps with both drivers. We spent much of the time evaluating different set-up options and both dry tyre compounds. The day went well with no major car issues and we have a reasonable amount of data to look at tonight. In terms of performance, it still looks as tight within our group as it did at the first two races, therefore doing well will depend on doing the best possible job of putting together all the small details.”
