With two promising new young drivers in the cockpits of
the new Ferrari-powered STR7, Toro Rosso started the
season off in promising style this afternoon in
Melbourne and after both Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric
Vergne hit early race setbacks they both fought back in
some style with the former scoring his first F1 points,
and on what was his debut for the team from Faenza.
While
Ricciardo was ninth and collected two points when the
chequered flag was waved at the end of the Australian
Grand Prix, team mate Vergne finished just one place
outside the points paying positions after a strong
drive.
After the
first grand prix of the 2012 F1 season Toro Rosso has
two points and is in a provisional sixth place in the
constructors' championship. Ricciardo is ninth in the
drivers' standings.
Daniel Ricciardo (STR7-01) Race finish: 9th
"I don’t really know how that
happened on the last lap. I saw blue flags and a lot of
cars in front and I was sure I could make up at least
one place because it was chaos. I was a bit lucky to be
the last one in that group because I could have a clear
picture of the other cars going off in front. Then I had
a chance to attack Jean-Eric. He defended into Turn 13
and I thought I could make the switch back and I did,
which put me in P9. The last few laps were crazy and I
was pushing like hell.
At the start, I got caught up
in the accident and at the moment I don’t understand how
it happened or who was to blame. I made a decent start,
I moved to the outside but there were too many of us
there. I hit the left front quite hard against a
Williams and had to come in to change the nose. I had to
race with a bit of damage after that. It’s good to
finish ninth, but I think I could have done better
because the car was very strong, given how fast it was
even with the damage I had to carry through the whole
race, with the car pulling to one side. It was not easy
to come back, but I never gave up, pushing all the time.
I’m extremely happy and it’s great to score my first F1
points here at home in Australia, where the crowd has
been just fantastic all weekend long."
Jean-Eric Vergne
(STR7-03) Race finish: 11th
"I got a super start and I had
moved up a few places, but then Webber touched my right
rear and I went straight on, losing a lot of time. After
that, it was complicated as I was stuck behind cars I
could not pass, even if they were considerable slower
than me. Then, when trying to pass Di Resta, I made a
small mistake, braking a tiny bit too late and went into
the gravel. Even on dirty tyres, I was doing some very
quick times. It’s just a shame that at the end I tried
too hard and lost too much ground. That’s racing, I
learned a lot on my first Formula 1 weekend and there
are still nineteen races in which I can score points.
The car seems to be working well and we were competitive
all weekend, so I’m looking forward to getting back on
track in Malaysia in a few days."
Franz Tost (Team Principal)
"Having started from 10th and
11th on the grid, it might seem quite normal to finish
9th and 11th but this was far from a normal race and it
was an exciting spectacle with which to start the
season. Unfortunately, on the opening lap, Daniel was
the innocent victim of a collision which meant he had to
pit immediately for a new nose which dropped him to the
back of the pack. After that he had to contend with a
car that was never quite right, having sustained some
damage in that collision. Jean- Eric also got delayed by
the confusion on the opening lap, dropping to sixteenth
place. He then fought his way back to the top ten, but
he lost places after running wide shortly after half
distance. The Safety Car worked quite well for us and
both drivers managed to get past Di Resta. Then, in the
final part of the third sector on the last lap,
Jean-Eric tried just a little bit too hard and this cost
him tenth place. Given what happened to him on the
opening lap, ninth place for Daniel at his home race is
the best we could hope for. Both drivers did a good job
all weekend, gaining in experience from day to day. The
car performance was very good over the three days and I
think we can look forward to another strong race in
Malaysia in seven days time and indeed to a good
season."
