Toro Rosso unable to extract potential from STR7
Toro Rosso has a disappointing qualifying session at Korea with the cars qualifying in 16th and 17th positions. Daniel Ricciardo was the faster of the two but in Q2 found himself halted with a gearbox problem. Jean-Eric Vergne blamed an error of his own during his final flying lap in Q2.
Daniel Ricciardo , STR7-04:
FP3: Best lap 1:39.537, pos. 17th, 18 laps
Q: Best lap: (Q1) 1:38.784, (Q2) 1:39.084, pos. 16th
“In Q2, we were only doing two runs of one flying lap each and on my last one, I simply lost drive coming out of Turn 12, feeling as if the car was in neutral and I couldn’t find any gears. I could not bring the car back to the pits and had to abort the run at the side of the track. A shame, because Q1 went very well and I was able to post a competitive time. I don’t know if I could have eventually got into Q3, but whatever the result, this has been a missed opportunity, although that’s part of the game in motor racing. Hopefully we can bounce back tomorrow.”
Jean-Eric Vergne, STR7-03:
FP3: Best lap: 1:39.448, pos. 16th, 17 laps
Q: Best lap: (Q1) 1:38.744, (Q2) 1:39.340, pos. 17th
“The performance looked very good and competitive this afternoon, but unfortunately I tried to take the final corner flat on my very last run, but I got it wrong and ruined my lap, nearly losing the car, so I am angry with myself for that. The step up in performance compared to yesterday came partly from improving the car overnight and again since FP3 and partly from myself, in the way I was driving. Of course I will be trying to get a good start tomorrow and hope that I can then work my way into a points scoring position by the end of the race.”
Laurent Mekies, Chief Engineer:
“This was a disappointing qualifying for us, as we had picked up quite a bit of pace compared to yesterday, which could be seen from our lap times in Q1. It reflected a good improvement from everyone, especially the two drivers, who both posted good lap times in Q1. So, it was looking quite promising, but unfortunately in Q2, Daniel had to park at the side of the track, reporting over the radio that he had no drive. Our priority for this afternoon will be to investigate and fix the problem. As for Jean-Eric, right at the end of his final quick lap, he pushed a little too hard and made a mistake. Looking to tomorrow, even if we did not get the grid positions we might have hoped for, the pace we showed in Q1 is still in the car, therefore we can expect to have a good race and aspire to fight through into the points as we have done in recent races.”
