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Toro Rosso's drivers will have it all to do
in this afternoon's British Grand Prix if
the Ferrari-powered STR6 is to make it into
the points for a fourth consecutive race
after the Italian team was caught out by the
rain in yesterday's qualifying sessions. |
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Scuderia Toro Rosso's
drivers, Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi, will
have it all to do in this afternoon's British Grand Prix
at Silverstone if the Ferrari-powered STR6 single-seater
is to make it into the championship points for a fourth
consecutive race after the team was badly caught out by
the rain in yesterday's qualifying sessions.
Expecting the rain to
arrive later than it did, the two Toro Rosso drivers
were both out on their warm-up laps on the soft compound
when the rain came down, meaning they were unable to
improve. Alguersuari thus posted the 18th quickest time
in 1m 35.245s; the young Spaniard being the first driver
to miss out on the cut for Q2, while Buemi was next up
behind him with a lap of 1m 35.749s.
That allowed the
Lotus-Renault of Hekki Kovalainen to make it through to
the Q2 session with the two Toro Rosso drivers were
joined in the Q1 cut off by the other Lotus-Renault of
Jarno Trulli as well as the Cosworth-powered Virgin and
HRT drivers.
Jaime
Alguersuari (STR6-01)
"We were a bit unlucky and also we didn’t get it
right, because we should have switched to the soft tyre
sooner, as they are worth about two seconds compared to
the hard, so we never used our full potential. But it is
not all negative, because we have good data in case it
is wet again tomorrow and also as regards the Prime tyre
on a long run, so we can be in good shape for the race.
If we make the best of any opportunities, then it is not
impossible for us to finish in the points again by the
end of tomorrow afternoon. At least I have lots of new
tyres ready to use and with only limited use of the DRS
allowed in the race, we could be competitive not only in
the wet, as was the case on Friday, but also in the
dry."
FP3: Best lap 1.34.329, pos.
16th, 20 laps; Qualify Best lap (Q1): 1.35.245. Pos.
18th
Sebastien Buemi (STR6-04)
"I’m a bit disappointed, as we were not expecting the
rain to arrive so soon, which meant we did not run the
Option tyre as early as we might have done. But the rain
came down hard on my "out" lap, so I never got a chance
to set a good time with the soft tyre, which normally is
as much as two seconds a lap quicker than the hard. On
the positive side, we have plenty of new tyres for
tomorrow, so let’s hope it will be dry. From this start
position, getting a good start will be essential
because, even with DRS, I think overtaking at this
circuit will be difficult. This season we have started
from poor grid positions but still gone on to have a
good race and I hope that is the case tomorrow."
FP3: Best lap 1.34.799, pos.
17th, 20 laps; Qualify Best lap: (Q1) 1.35.749. Pos.
19th
Giorgio Ascanelli
"Of course it’s disappointing not to make the cut
into Q2. This morning, the drivers did not get much of
an opportunity to run on low fuel, as we concentrated on
race preparation, so we started qualifying sending them
out on Prime tyres for a few laps to get a feel for a
light car. Then, once they came in to switch to the
Option, the rain came and caught us out, which meant
there was no chance to improve the lap times."
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