Saturday: The Toro Rosso could have done better
The two Toro Rosso drivers believe they could have done better during the Malaysian Grand Prix qualifying. Jean-Eric Vergne was unable to get past Q1, while his teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, believes he could have made the most of the rainy conditions.
Daniel Ricciardo – 18th and 13th:
« If at the start of today’s qualifications, I had been told that I would finish 13th, I would have signed. It’s a decent result and we haven’t been this high on the timing sheet all weekend during practice. From that perspective, 13th is quite good, but in Q1, we were competitive and only a hundredth away from the top 10. With the rain coming, maybe we missed an opportunity to do better. We’ve improved but I always want more. Tomorrow, I hope to climb up the hierarchy in what could be an unpredictable race. I really want to be in the top 10 and score points at the start of the season. »
Jean-Eric Vergne – 17th and 17th:
« I don’t know if I could have done much better, but it’s never pleasant to be out at the end of Q1. I was held up in the last sector by another car and we lost between four and five tenths, which cost me the chance to be in Q2. If we want to look on the bright side, it’s that at least we saved a set of tires for the race, which could be important given that this track is very aggressive on tires. Being behind my teammate? That doesn’t mean anything today, and the important thing is to be ahead tomorrow! As always, I’m still optimistic for tomorrow and hope to chase some points. Anything can happen in this race. During free practice, we saw that we had a good pace on long runs, which is encouraging. »
