Toro Rosso made a very promising start to the weekend's action in Valencia this afternoon with Sebastien Buemi knocking on the door of the top ten in the opening practice session while new signing Jaime Alguersuari was thirteenth quickest in the same session in what will be only his second grand prix. The team from Faenza, Italy, is benefitting from more new upgrade parts for the Ferrari-powered STR4 chassis this weekend as its bids to reverse a recent slump in performance, while 19-year-old Alguersuari has embarked on a steep learning curve following his F1 debut in Hungary last month.

Sebastien Buemi (STR4-03): “It was really hot today in the cockpit, especially as we were doing long runs in preparation for the race. The track was very dirty and green at first but it improved continuously, especially in the final ten minutes of the last session, so you had to be out on track at that moment, if you wanted a good lap time. We’ve got a new front wing here and it seems to bring the benefits we expected, which is positive. Now, as always we need to analyse the day’s data to see how we can improve for tomorrow. I am quite confident we can have a good weekend.”

First Practice Session: Best lap 1.43.389, pos. 11th, 30 laps; Second Practice Session: Best lap 1.41.156, pos. 16th, 34 laps