Friday: Toro Rosso in its place

Jaime Alguersuari – 17th and 16th

It was a busy day during which I did a lot of laps, especially this morning where I drove more than everyone else. We focused on race settings to improve the car’s pace. We’re not quite sure where we stand at the moment, so I think we can still expect a difficult qualifying. However, we will be better during the race. I tried both types of tires, but I couldn’t get a clear idea regarding the tire compounds’ qualities. The behavior of the super softs will be one of the keys to the race we will have.

Sebastien Buemi – 16th and 18th

« We were on a different strategy than usual compared to our work program: we used the super softs this morning. I wasn’t happy with the car’s behavior at the beginning and we made drastic changes to the setup throughout the day. Towards the end of the second session, I was close to the limit, so I think the next step will be to slightly revert these changes to do better tomorrow. In terms of performance, we are in a similar position to where we were in the last two races, which means we are lacking a bit of pace. The track conditions don’t seem to change much during the day, which is a good thing because it will make it easier for us to analyze the collected data ».

Laurent Mekies

The two drivers completed their scheduled program for the day. Jaime was ahead, which is why he stopped earlier this afternoon. We proceeded a bit differently than other Fridays: we performed long stints during the first practice session to anticipate potential rain during the second session. We focused primarily on race setups, doing long stints on both tire compounds. We hope to have a good race pace for Sunday. The soft and supersoft tires worked well, likely aided by the low ambient temperature, and I believe this means we could see different strategies during the Grand Prix. Today, the track remained very stable compared to previous Fridays, so I don’t expect many surprises from this perspective tomorrow or Sunday.