Friday: A good weekend ahead for Toro Rosso
The Toro Rosso team managed to bounce back after a disappointing Singapore Grand Prix. Both drivers were in the top 10 or very close during both practice sessions, and Buemi and Alguersuari seem confident for the rest of the weekend. Their STR6 is performing very well at Suzuka, and the new parts brought seem to be working well, now it's a matter of delivering tomorrow during qualifying.
Sébastien Buemi – 8th and 10th
«I think this is the first very pleasant Friday without any problems that we’ve had in a long time, maybe since Hungary, with no issues, no accidents, and no rain. This has allowed us to do a lot of things and have a good feeling with the car, and we were able to assess the influence of the new parts brought here. It’s a bit early to talk about performance, but if you compare it to Singapore, where we were at the back of the pack, today we seem to be ahead except for Petrov. The car behaves much better on this type of track, but we still have to wait for tomorrow and see how the qualifying session goes, as it should be tight. But I am confident that we can have a good weekend. We also gathered good information on the tires: we both did a long stint, Jaime with the “Softs” and me with the “Hards,” and I was able to do a lot of laps with the Mediums.»
Jaime Alguersuari – 6th and 11th
«It has been a good day of work and I feel like I’ve made a step forward, which I hope will be confirmed tomorrow with a good qualifying that will give a good place on the grid to have a good race. Our car is clearly better on this type of track rather than on those that require a lot of aerodynamic downforce like Singapore. We’ve found a good rhythm and we can still go faster, so things seem promising for now. There is a huge difference between the two types of tires, and the circuit is very demanding on the tires. This means that finding the right strategy for the race will be quite tricky and it should make for an exciting race.»
