Friday: Improvement for Toro Rosso in China
Toro Rosso did not achieve results up to their expectations in Australia and Malaysia. By James Key's own admission, it will take some time to unlock the full potential of the STR8, but it seems that the small Scuderia has already found some improvements this Friday in China.
Jean-Eric Vergne – 12th and 15th:
« Last year, the Chinese weekend didn’t really go well for us, and I can say we’re off to a better start this year. Daniel and I had different schedules today because we had a lot of things to work on. It made sense to split the work between the two cars. We will look at the data from both cars to find the best setup and move forward for tomorrow. I am confident that we can be faster. As expected, it seems that the tires will have a tough time here, especially the soft ones, but it’s the same for everyone, so there are no real concerns about that. »
Daniel Ricciardo – 15th and 14th:
« We were a little pessimistic arriving here after our performances in the last races. But after today, I am happier because we seem to be in better shape. Another good point is that we made progress between free practice 1 and free practice 2. It’s not enough yet if we want to close the gap to our rivals, but we are moving in the right direction. On the tire side, the softs were very good over one lap, and I was pleased with the advantage they provide compared to the mediums. On the longer stints, the softs suffer a lot, and there are many rubber bits on the track, but we still expect to see strong degradation here. »
