Sunday: Uninteresting race for Toro Rosso
After successful past races, the Toro Rosso cars have fallen back in the ranks: Daniel Ricciardo dropped from 6th on the grid to 12th at the finish. It was even worse for Jean-Eric Vergne, who had to retire due to a hydraulic problem.
Daniel Ricciardo: 12th
« It was a frustrating and rather uninteresting race for me. After the start, I was able to keep my place on softs, but when we switched to mediums, I really struggled to find pace and couldn’t push as hard as I wanted to extract more from the car. I tried to push more, but the car couldn’t handle it, and I started locking the brakes and sliding a lot since I didn’t have enough grip. So, I had to drive more smoothly, but it was frustrating to lap after lap and fall back progressively. I can’t explain it just yet. We’ll have to look at the data to see why we were simply too slow for most of the weekend. »
Jean-Eric Vergne: retirement
« There’s not much to say today because we had a good pace all weekend, and that didn’t change today. I found the car very difficult to drive from the start. Then there was that moment during my pit stop when I had to brake hard to avoid Di Resta, who was released too early from his pit, costing me even more time. On lap 23, the team told me they had identified a problem with the hydraulic system and instructed me to retire. It’s extremely disappointing since it’s my second consecutive retirement. A weekend to forget. »
