Toro Rosso's new
updates this weekend to its Ferrari-powered STR4 car really
started to reap dividends in the final qualifying sessions
this afternoon at the Hungaroring with Swiss youngster
Sebastien Buemi posting the eleventh fastest time and
missing out on the Q3 session by just one place. The new
updates have filtered down from the senior Red Bull squad
which introduced the package at the British Grand Prix and
while Toro Rosso didn't show much progress yesterday, this
afternoon the team started to make steps forward.
In the sister car
19-year-old Spaniard Jaime Alguersuari, who is making his
grand prix debut this weekend, continued to post very
respectable times as he continued to learn the car, although
a hydraulic problem prematurely ended his qualifying run and
means he will start from twentieth position on the grid
tomorrow.
Sebastien Buemi
(STR4-03): “Finishing
eleventh, one tenth off P10 shows we have made progress, a
very big step forward since the last race. It was a good
qualifying for us, even if it is frustrating to finish
eleventh because you want Q3. But it means we can run
whatever fuel load we want for the race and I think we will
be in good shape for tomorrow.”
Third Practice
Session: Best lap 1.21.800, pos. 5th, 23 laps; Qualifying
Session: Best lap 1.21.002, pos. 11th
Jaime Alguersuari
(STR4-02): “Finishing
qualifying with a failure is never good – I had a problem
with the throttle control system - but we have to be content
because I didn’t make any mistakes so far this weekend. On
my first two sets of tyres I did a good job. As for the
race, I am really looking forward to it and I will be happy
if I finish.”
Third Practice
Session: Best lap 1.22.391, pos. 18th, 20 laps; Qualifying
Session: Best lap 1.22.359, pos. 20th
Giorgio Ascanelli
(Technical Director):
“First of all, the thoughts of everyone at Toro Rosso are
with Felipe Massa at this time. As for our performance,
obviously, the development that was introduced by Red Bull
Racing at the British Grand Prix, has partly been used on
our cars here for the first time. It is not yet the complete
package and it has proved very effective, as can be seen by
Sebastien's performance. I have to congratulate Jaime on a
good job without doing anything silly. His stop was due to a
problem caused by the introduction of the new hydraulic
system, required to run the new modifications. We still have
a long way to go with this car, but I think we can have a
good race. Eleventh on the grid better than tenth? If it’s a
choice between an egg today or a chicken tomorrow, I would
always take the egg!”
