Saturday: Toro Rosso is reliable… that’s something

The Toro Rosso team is not at its best. The small Italian team is struggling to perform and is experiencing issues with brake distribution and balance. The setup is not good, and under these conditions, the driver who claims to be the most satisfied with the car gets the team’s favoritism.

Buemi shares his set-up with Bourdais, and the Frenchman bears the brunt of it. He fails to improve his times and remains stuck a second behind every other driver. The Frenchman is 20th, once again behind his teammate Buemi in qualifying. The pressure is mounting for the native of Le Mans, but he claims not to feel it. No matter where he starts from, he wants to have a good race and secretly hopes for the arrival of rain, just like Buemi; to shake things up.

Sebastien Buemi – 17th and 17th:

« I think I could have made it into Q2 if I hadn’t been caught in traffic. Other than that, I think we got the best out of the car given that we’re still waiting for our updates. This morning, we were able to improve the car, but compared to the other teams, it’s just not enough! »

« I must admit that I’m hoping for a lot tomorrow if it could rain. The single-seater should perform well in the rain, we need to keep putting pressure on our competitors, and wait… »

Sébastien Bourdais – 20th and 20th:

We knew we weren’t fast enough this morning because I was unhappy with the car’s balance. This afternoon we tried something very different in terms of set-up by adopting Sébastien [Buemi]’s settings, which he was satisfied with. But it didn’t work. It’s a shame the rain didn’t come earlier because I think we would have been more competitive in those conditions. Honestly, it doesn’t make much difference whether you’re 17th or 20th, and tomorrow I’ll do my best, we’ll see what can be done.

Giorgio Ascanelli – Director:

« At this stage of the weekend, I think we can be happy to see that our cars are reliable. We can also be satisfied with Buemi’s choice to cleverly revert to his best setup from yesterday. »

« We did not manage the traffic in qualifying this afternoon, and I think the rain had nothing to do with it since it was the same for everyone. We knew it would fall sooner or later… »