Bourdais: « The STR4 is not suited to my style »
Sébastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso driver, admits that he is struggling to fully understand his car: the STR4. The Frenchman states that various issues are preventing him from improving.
Bourdais is in his second season with the Faenza team, but since 2009, he has been regularly beaten by his teammate, rookie Sébastien Buemi.
In qualifying and in the race, the Swiss did better than the mancunian for the Australian and Chinese races. The four-time Champ Car champion admits to having problems with adapting and driving the car.
« If you look at this year, the tires are much more difficult to manage,” Bourdais said to the magazine Autosport. « It’s difficult, because you have 20% less grip at the front. It’s a bit difficult, I can’t hide it.
« This is exactly the opposite of what I needed. It’s my weakness, I know it, and I accept it. »
« This does not mean that I cannot go faster with this car. It’s just that my learning curve will be a little less obvious. In Malaysia, I was a bit more comfortable, and the car’s potential increased significantly.
« For this race, it was necessary to compare Red Bull and us. What we did in the third sector was a big step. There were two corners where I was losing time. But the rest was good, » he added.
However, the Frenchman hopes that he will be able to make progress once Toro Rosso has carried out new updates with the help of the Red Bull team.
« This will be done in two steps for us. In Barcelona, we will have what Red Bull has in terms of its wings, and then later the new diffuser will arrive.
Note that Bourdais was exactly in the same situation last year with the STR3.
