Toro Rosso no longer had tires to advance to Q3
The Toro Rosso drivers only had one set of super-soft tires to get into Q3. It wasn't enough. Max Verstappen will start 10th, just ahead of Carlos Sainz.
In Australia, the two Toro Rosso drivers finished the race one behind the other, which had angered Max Verstappen. The two drivers are definitely inseparable as they will start one behind the other after the Bahrain qualifying.
Nevertheless, both drivers regretted not being able to make it to Q3, mainly due to a lack of super soft tires. But Carlos Sainz regrets not being able to achieve the same time in Q2 as in Q1. Had that been the case, he would have been able to start ahead of his teammate: « We did a decent job in today’s qualifying because we knew that with the number of super softs we had, it would be difficult to get into Q3. We still managed to have a good lap, even though I’m not entirely satisfied because my time in Q1 was faster than in Q2. »
As for Max Verstappen, the goal is to be able to score points again at the end of the race: « It was a good qualifying session on a track where we are not at our best. Being so close to Q3 is therefore a great achievement. Obviously, we would like to finish higher, but we must be realistic and try to have a good race tomorrow. The good news is that we can choose our tires for tomorrow’s start. So it’s not so bad. »
Starting P10, we will literally look forward in the race, that will be hard on the tyres. #keeppushing #BahrainGP pic.twitter.com/bfBJEjkAZv
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) 2 avril 2016
If Toro Rosso has never scored points on the circuit in the small Middle Eastern kingdom, it’s because its configuration does not match the strengths of the Faenza cars, as explained by James Key, their technical director: « We knew that out of the first four races of the season, Bahrain would probably be the most challenging for us. Unfortunately, that was the case today. It’s a circuit of braking and acceleration, where longitudinal performance is more important than lateral performance, and we are less strong in longitudinal than in lateral… »
In these conditions, having at least one single-seater in the points would already be good news for the team.
With the participation of www.racingbusiness.fr
