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Sebastien Buemi had an eventful but very
rewarding Sunday afternoon in Montreal,
leading the Canadian Grand Prix for a lap,
passing the legendary Michael Schumacher and
eventually collecting four valuable points
after crossing the line in eighth place.
Team mate Jaime Alguersuari (above) emerged
unscathed at the end of a chaotic race in a
solid twelfth place. |
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Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi had an eventual but very
rewarding Sunday afternoon in Montreal, leading the
Canadian Grand Prix for a lap, passing the legendary
Michael Schumacher and eventually collecting four
valuable points after crossing the line in eighth place.
Team mate Jaime Alguersuari had a less promising
afternoon but he emerged unscathed at the end of a
chaotic grand prix in a solid twelfth place.
The four points scored by Buemi in
Montreal yesterday doubles the Italian team's points
tally for the F1 season so far, having previously
collected two points in Malaysia and one each in Spain
and Monaco, and it allows them to leapfrog Williams into
seventh place in the constructors' standings (although
the British team has equal points) and to increase the
gap to BMW Sauber, which uses similar Ferrari engines to
Toro Rosso, and is the only other points scorer further
down the table with just a solitary point to the Swiss
team's name after eight races. In the drivers'
championship, Buemi now has five points, having
previously been rooted on just one point, which has
allowed him to pass his younger team mate into
fourteenth place in the standings while Alguersuari is
next up in fifteenth place with 3 points.
Sebastien Buemi (STR5-02)
Pos. 8th
“I am super happy to have
scored four points because we did not expect that much.
The team did an excellent job, especially during the pit
stops and also the strategy was spot on. I enjoyed some
fights, including passing Schumacher which was difficult
because, even though we were on the same tyres, with his
being older than mine, he is a real fighter. Generally
it was a tough afternoon, because there was a lot of
degradation which is why we planned to make three pit
stops; something we are not used to. The other worry I
had was a broken exhaust from quite early on. I also
enjoyed leading the race for a lap, which was a nice
feeling. I hope this means my season will really kick
off now, because I have not had much luck and the team
has been working really hard. It feels so much better to
have had a “normal” race today. Eighth place, leading
the race and passing Michael. What a day!”
Jaime Alguersuari (STR5-03)
Pos. 12th
“On the positive side, I
finished the race. It was a tough afternoon which did
not go so well for me, even if I was involved in a lot
of exciting incidents and moves. The best point for me
is that the team once again gave me a reliable car with
which I could finish the race and gain more valuable
experience. So now, I’m already looking forward to
Valencia, another race on Spanish soil.”
Franz Tost (Team Principal)
“I like coming to Montreal
because Toro Rosso always seems to pick up points here
and today we did it again, with the added pleasure of
seeing one of our cars lead the race, albeit briefly. It
was an exciting race for us, not entirely for the right
reasons, as with forty laps to go, we saw that the
exhaust was broken on Buemi’s car and we were concerned
that he might not finish the race. Sebastien did a
fantastic job, as did the entire team, because the
engineers produced a good set-up on both cars and our
strategy was absolutely correct. The four points
Sebastien brought home today are very important for us
as it means we move ahead of Williams in the
Constructors’ championship even if we are equal on
points and they are also important for him, as he has
had some bad luck so far this season and hopefully from
now on he can deliver more good results. This was the
first time here for both our drivers. Congratulations to
the team here at the track, at the factory in Faenza and
the wind tunnel in Bicester for their excellent work
which has delivered this result.”
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