Saturday: No surprise for Scuderia Toro Rosso

Bourdais disappoints and Buemi learns, this is the conclusion we can draw from this Saturday with free practice 3 and qualifying. The Frenchman is far from achieving the performances expected of him. It’s simple, he finishes last for the whole day, with additional mechanical issues on his STR4.

Sébastien Buemi learns as a small mistake in Q1 costs him his spot in Q2. He sets the 17th fastest time in qualifying but benefits from Sutil’s penalty to move up a spot on the starting grid for this Bahrain Grand Prix. The Swiss driver makes gradual progress while unintentionally humiliating the Frenchman Sébastien Bourdais.

Sebastien Buemi – 17th and 16th (qualified 17th):

« It would have been much better if I had managed to get into Q2, but I made a mistake in the third sector. I’m disappointed with my performance because the car was behaving better than expected. I should have been more careful to ensure getting into Q2. The track conditions were similar to this morning. »

« Tomorrow, I think we can have a good race because this afternoon, our performance did not reflect what the car was capable of doing. Regarding the tires, it is clear that the softest ones should be used as a priority in the race. »

Sébastien Bourdais – 20th and 20th:

The poor performance this morning did not help me. This afternoon, my first relay was very good, better than I thought, and I was optimistic for the rest of the events. But for the second run, nothing went right, and the car was oversteering. It is extremely sensitive to the changes we make, and we suffered from a lack of downforce and therefore grip. It’s disappointing to finish so far behind.

Giorgio Ascanelli – Technical Director:

We have been experiencing reliability issues since the beginning of the weekend, but we believe we are on track now. This afternoon, in terms of performance, we weren’t fast enough. Buemi could have made it to Q2 as there were five cars within half a second. Therefore, it was crucial not to make any mistakes. The situation here is quite similar to what happened to us in Melbourne: Both circuits feature significant braking zones, and this doesn’t seem to be one of our strong points. Fortunately, the conditions should be a bit cooler for tomorrow’s race.