After a weekend
which showed plenty of promise for Scuderia Toro Rosso,
Sebastien Buemi, who made it through to the Q3
qualifying session yesterday, collected the team's first
points of the season after finishing in 10th place in
this afternoon's Australian Grand Prix.
Buemi made it through to the Q3
session yesterday in Melbourne, eventually posting a
time that would see him starting the race in 10th place.
His team mate, Jaime Alguersuari, would start this
afternoon from 13th place. The two Toro Rosso drivers
touched at the first corner which compromised the
performance of the STR6, however Buemi was able to
complete the race in 10th spot to pick up his - and the
team's - first championship point of the season. That
single point quickly became four when the Melbourne
stewards disqualified the two Sauber drivers who had
finished ahead of Buemi. Alguersuari meanwhile finished
in 13th spot which later became 11th.
Sebastien Buemi (STR6-02)
Pos. 8th
“It’s not too bad finishing
tenth, after making it to Q3 yesterday, but I think I
could have done better, maybe an eighth or ninth place
was possible. It’s a shame that my team-mate and I made
contact at the first corner. It’s not the first time it
has happened, so I think we will be having a chat about
it after I’ve watched a recording of the incident!
Towards the end, I was not able to hold off Massa, who
was much quicker than me at that point, but I am still
pleased with the result. Overall, I would say we are
definitely more competitive than last year and now we
must continue to move forward, bringing further
improvements to the car. It has been a positive start
and we will have a lot to learn from analysing this
whole weekend and then we will see what we can do in
Malaysia.”
Jaime Alguersuari (STR6-04)
Pos. 11th
“I got a good start, moving up
to about tenth or eleventh place I think. Then, coming
into Turn 2, Michael (Schumacher) cut the corner as he
was having a go around the outside, while I was on the
inside. The result was that he touched my front wing and
I had to come in to change it. He could not have avoided
doing it, as I was already in the middle of the corner.
That meant I had an extra stop, which effectively ended
my chances of getting a good result. I have to say my
car worked well, with quite a good pace. I am pleased to
have finished the first race and now we must look at
what we can do to improve further for Malaysia.”
Franz Tost (Team Principal)
“A good result for the whole
team, because to score a point in the first race proves
that everyone at Toro Rosso worked well over the winter
and everyone here at the track, back in the factory and
at our wind tunnel deserves praise for that. Buemi had a
good start, but unfortunately, at the first corner,
Alguersuari drove into him and this had a negative
impact on the performance of Buemi’s car for the rest of
the afternoon. Nevertheless, Sebastien performed well
and did a very good job. Given all the negative comments
we heard over the winter about their tyres, Pirelli
should also be congratulated on their performance here,
especially when you consider that one car finished in
the points making just one pit stop throughout the race.
Finally, well done to Sebastian Vettel for starting the
season with another win for Red Bull. We can now prepare
for Malaysia, with the confirmation that we have started
out on the right foot and we must work to maintain this
momentum.”
