Saturday: Scuderia Toro Rosso in Q2 thanks to Buemi
Toro Rosso does not confirm its good qualifications in Belgium: Jaime Alguersuari marks a setback by stopping in Q1 while Sebastien Buemi managed to reach Q2. The work done in preparation for Monza could pay off during the race.
Sebastien Buemi – 16th and 16th
I am satisfied with what I managed to do this afternoon because entering Q2 is not bad given the little time I spent on the track yesterday. My lap was correct. I was reasonably happy with my lap, but obviously, it’s a bit hard to digest after our very good qualification at Spa. We brought a lot of new parts to try here and, in the end, especially because of my accident yesterday, we didn’t really have time to properly evaluate everything. Recent races have been very open and uncertain, so anything can happen tomorrow. We just have to try to give our best and we’ll see where we stand after 53 laps.
Jaime Alguersuari – 17th and 18th
« Even if the result is not good, I can be happy with the fact that we managed to improve the car since the beginning of the tests, but my lap was simply not fast enough to claim a spot in Q2. The pace wasn’t there. Sebastien did a very good lap, so kudos to him for reaching Q2. I’ve scored points starting from 18th place before, so let’s see what will happen tomorrow ».
Giorgio Ascanelli
We worked hard over the past few weeks, specifically for this race: we focused on the engine, brakes, aero, and wings, and had many possibilities when we arrived here. Despite all this, we didn’t start well on Friday morning and have been struggling since. We haven’t done a fantastic job because, although we could see the potential is there, we’ve been unable to unlock it. We will work to understand this, but we’ll have to wait a year before we can apply what we learn because there is no other circuit like Monza! Ferrari has done a good job providing us with a number of solutions to improve on the exhausts, but we didn’t manage to succeed. We had two options for the front wing because when we designed the specific wing for Monza, we didn’t know we’d have a new exhaust package. Seb’s accident didn’t help, but I can’t blame him for our difficulties. Can we do better in the race? As they say, “les jeux sont faits” (in French in the text).
