The Toro Rosso
drivers' set themselves up in a strong position for
tomorrow's Spanish Grand Prix during this afternoon's
qualifying session in Barcelona where both drivers went
through to Q2, Sebastien Buemi eventually posting the
11th fastest time while Jamie Alguersuari was two places
further back in the sister Ferrari V8-powered Toro Rosso
STR6.
Sebastien Buemi
(STR6-02)
"I am very happy with this
eleventh place. We finished ahead of the Saubers and
Force India and when you consider that as planned I will
have some new parts for the next race, it is also a very
good sign for Monaco. On top of that we have saved an
extra set of new soft tyres for the race, because we
opted not to try a second run in Q2, so at the moment
everything is looking good. In some ways, it is better
to be eleventh than tenth, because if I had made it to
Q3, we would probably have gone out and used another set
of tyres, but this way, I am on the clean side of the
track with one set extra."
FP3: 1.24.535, pos. 14, 16
laps; Qualifying: 1.23.231, pos. 11
Jaime Alguersuari (STR6-01)
"The car worked well in the
high speed section of the circuit, but in the slow ones,
I did not have a good feel for the car, so we need to
look at the data to see how to improve the car in Sector
3 before tomorrow’s race. Overall, I am pleased for the
team because the result for both of us is good and I
think we can run a competitive race. We can expect a
three pit stop strategy, because Pirelli’s new Prime is
harder than it was before. I am looking forward to
having a good race at my home circuit."
FP3: 1.24.722, pos. 16, 14
laps; Qualifying: 1.23.694, pos. 13
Giorgio Ascanelli (Technical
Director)
"I think eleventh place is a
bit better than expected, because at the end of the day,
Seb pulled out a magnificent lap. Jaime’s position is a
more accurate reflection of our standing, even if he did
not get it quite right for whatever reason. It was a
difficult session as the temperatures were higher and
the car was tail-happy, so Jaime was unable to manage
the tyres in the final sector, but like I said Seb did a
superb lap with our aggressive choice of only
doing one lap on that final run. With Jaime, it was not
the right decision to give him another set of tyres for
another run in Q2, but you don’t want to upset a driver
in the heat of battle when he tells you he can go
quicker! We had some updates here and they are producing
the results we expected. It involved a lot of work for a
small step forward and I think they will work more
effectively next weekend in Monaco as we now have a
better understanding of them."
