A strong drive
from Jaime Alguersuari saw the Toro Rosso pilot net the
final championship point on offer at Silverstone this
afternoon for tenth place and extend the Italian team's
point scoring run to four consecutive races.
The Spanish
youngster and his Swiss team mate Sebastien Buemi had
started the British Grand Prix on the back foot after
neither driver had made it out of the Q1 qualifying
session yesterday after they were both caught out by the
rain. However in the equally slippery conditions today
Alguersuari avoided the drama to net tenth place. Buemi
was less lucky he was knocked out of the action by the
Force India-Mercedes of Paul Di Resta.
The point earned
today by Alguersuari consolidates Toro Rosso's grip on
seventh place in the Constructors' Championship
standings; the team from Faenza now has 17 points,
opening the gap to eighth placed Force India to 5
points. Toro Rosso also has 13 points in hand over ninth
placed Williams while the Lotus, Virgin and HRT team are
yet to score any points.
Jaime Alguersuari (STR6-01)
Pos. 10th
"In the early stages, all I was
concentrating on was staying on the track, as it was
very slippery and I wanted to make no mistakes and get
to the finish. I was definitely faster than Heidfeld and
Schumacher, around most of the lap, as was the case in
Valencia. But we could not make the most of this as I
then lost out to them going down the straight. I’m not
sure why that was the case, maybe we ran with a bit more
downforce than them. However, I am happy for the team,
who I thank for doing a good job, as getting back into
the points from eighteenth on the grid was a good result
after we failed to make the most of the Soft tyre in
qualifying."
Sebastien Buemi (STR6-04)
Retired
"I’m a bit disappointed as I
feel we could have picked up some points today. I was
running at a good pace. I would like to see the footage
with Di Resta again to see exactly what happened, but
from the cockpit, I was on the dry line, he tried to
come up the inside of me where the track surface was
still very wet. So he could not brake as hard as if he
had been on the dry and I felt an impact. He had touched
my left rear tyre which shredded it. But that’s racing,
so it’s best to forget it and start thinking about the
next race at the Nürburgring."
Franz Tost (Team Principal)
"Another exciting race in
general and also for Scuderia Toro Rosso in particular,
because yet again we finished in the points, the sixth
time from nine races this season and the fourth time in
a row. It was also another good performance from Jaime.
He had a fantastic race, building on a good start. In
the final stages he caught up to Schumacher and came
close to passing him on the last lap. Unfortunately,
Sebastien’s race ended after a collision with Di Resta,
which in my opinion was quite clearly the fault of the
Force India driver, as he came up the inside and did not
stop, destroying Buemi’s left rear tyre, which meant he
had to retire at the side of the track. In race
conditions, the STR 6 seems to work very well as it
produced some excellent lap times. Overall the team did
a good job, including the choice of strategies and we
were competitive throughout the afternoon. All these
positive factors mean we can look forward to the next
round at the Nürburgring with confidence."
