Scuderia Toro Rosso

Formula 1 Team reports for the 2009 F1 season includes race previews, reports and reviews
Ed
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Post by Ed » Sat Jul 11, 2009 1:00 am

2009 German Grand Prix - Friday Practice

Sebastien Buemi
(STR4-03)
“Even though our times don’t look great, we did a good job today in terms of testing everything we wanted to try and so we have a clear picture of what the car is doing and why. Depending on whether it is wet or not tomorrow, we will go in a different direction to try and be more competitive. The rain cost us a bit of a track time, but it didn’t affect our programme, so we can be happy with the work and less so with the actual result. I have to say, I hope it rains as I think we would be more competitive in those conditions.”

First Practice Session
Best lap 1.34.878, pos. 17th, 28 laps
Second Practice Session
Best lap 1.33.903, pos. 18th, 30 laps


Sebastien Bourdais
(STR4-01)
“The main difficulty today was the low track temperatures which meant the tyres had very little grip. We made several changes to the set-up, including some to the rear ride height, but I don’t think we went in the right direction. That meant I struggled with that and the wind also made life difficult in terms of braking stability with a strong tailwind at the chicane meaning it was hard to stop the car. Seb and I tried quite different set-ups on the car, but, in the end, they both seemed to produce similar lap times.”

First Practice Session
Best lap 1.34.827, pos. 16th, 27 laps
Second Practice Session
Best lap 1.34.025, pos. 19th, 30 laps

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Post by Ed » Sat Jul 11, 2009 11:37 pm

2009 GERMAN GRAND PRIX – SATURDAY 11/07/09

Sebastien Buemi (STR4-03)

“I think I could have got into Q2 if I had not got caught in traffic. Other than that, I feel we did the best we could, given we are still waiting for our car updates. We improved the car this morning and it seemed competitive in comparison with the cars we are racing against. So I must admit, I am hoping for rain tomorrow as our car should go well in wet conditions. We will just have to keep pushing and see what happens.”
Third Practice Session: Best lap 1.32.239, pos.17th, 23 laps
Qualifying Session: Best lap 1.32.251, pos. 17th

Sebastien Bourdais (STR4-01)

“We knew we weren’t quick enough this morning, when I was unhappy with the balance of the car, so this afternoon we tried something very different in terms of set-up, using those that Sebastien was happy with this morning. But it didn’t work out. It’s a shame the rain did not come sooner, as I think we would have been more competitive in those conditions. To be honest, it doesn’t make much difference if you’re seventeenth or twentieth and tomorrow, I will try my best and see what we can do.”
Third Practice Session: Best lap 1.32.883, pos.20th, 21 laps
Qualifying Session: Best lap 1.33.559, pos. 20th

Giorgio Ascanelli: “We can be pleased that the cars have run reliably so far this weekend. We can also be pleased that last night Buemi was clever and bold enough to go back to his older style of set-up that he understands well. It was a bit late in the day, but this morning we made a step forward. This afternoon, we did not manage the traffic well. We cannot blame the rain, as it was the same for everybody and we knew what was going to happen.”

ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE
10 reasons why it’s good not to get to Q3

1) You get to watch the exciting Q3 session, relaxing with a cool drink in the Energy Station
2) You don’t have to bother going to the boring Top Three press conference.
3) F1 is all about cost saving and you’ve just saved your team a fortune in fuel and tyres.
4) You don’t have to lift your head so high to see the start lights. In fact you don’t need the lights at all: just go when the cars in front move.
5) Your mechanics and engineers have time for lunch before the debrief.
6) Your engine temperature stays lower on the grid as you don’t have to wait ages for the cars to line up behind you.
7) You don’t need tensator barriers around your car on the grid
8 ) You don’t have to shake hands on the grid with the Prime Minister just when you want to go for a piss.
9) It’s a great excuse for not doing well in the race, as overtaking is impossible.
10) The mechanics can chat up your grid girl without their wives/girlfriends seeing them on TV

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Post by Ed » Mon Jul 13, 2009 1:59 am

2009 Germand Grand Prix Report

HUNGRY FOR HUNGARY

Sebastien Buemi (STR4-03)
Pos. 16th
“It was a difficult race, although I had a good start and the opening laps went well. When we put on the soft tyres at the pit stop, I suffered with a loss of grip and kept sliding as I struggled to get them up to temperature. In the final stint it was the same story. It was not a positive outcome, but we will have new updates at the next race and we should be more competitive.”

Sebastien Bourdais (STR4-01)
Retired
“On the warm up laps we weren’t so happy with the option tyre so we decided to start on the prime, which I think was a good call. But then I began to lose hydraulic pressure and so I lost the power steering, clutch and eventually everything else and so I had to pull in. It’s a shame of course, because although we were at the back at the time, I think we had a good strategy, with a heavy fuel load and, even running on primes we could manage the gap to those ahead of us, staying in touch with them.”

Franz Tost: “Once again, well done to Red Bull Racing for a fantastic performance. As for our race, we unfortunately suffered a hydraulic failure on Bourdais’ car. With Buemi, after a good start where he moved up four places, he complained of lacking grip and he kept locking the rears. Now, we must hope that with the new aerodynamic package we will have in Hungary, we can begin to close the gap and move up the order.”

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Post by Ed » Thu Jul 16, 2009 7:08 pm

BOURDAIS LEAVES SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO

Last weekend’s German Grand Prix was Sebastien Bourdais’ last race for Scuderia Toro Rosso.

Franz Tost: “In Sebastien’s second year with us, the partnership has not met our expectations and therefore we have decided to replace him as from the next round of the World Championship, the Hungarian Grand Prix.”

An announcement about his replacement will be made shortly before the Hungarian Grand Prix.

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Post by Ed » Sat Jul 18, 2009 2:15 am

HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIXVIEW

Scuderia Toro Rosso will tackle the final eight races of the season with a new technical upgrade package and one new driver – you will have to wait a few more days to find out who he is. Team Principal Franz Tost and Technical Director Giorgio Ascanelli answer the obvious questions.

Franz Tost
The season got off to a reasonable start with a few points finishes, but then the team appeared to get left behind. Why was that?
Toro Rosso had quite a successful start to the season, scoring points in Australia and China and later, in Monaco, we picked up another one. However, from then on, we lost touch with the other mid-field runners. There are various reasons for this: firstly, the other teams improved their cars, regularly producing updates to their technical package. We introduced a few small updates, but nothing major. For example, we are the only team never to have run with a double diffuser, one of the key elements to car performance this year.

Why? It was a financial decision. Rather than incur the costs of constant updates, we chose to keep costs within budget by waiting, before delivering one major update package, which will make its race debut at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Secondly, apart from the limitations on car development, we also had one driver who did not live up to our expectations.

Can we really expect to see a step forward in the final part of this season?
We expect that the technical upgrades should see us return to a level of competitiveness that we were able to demonstrate in the second half of last season.

How do you rate Buemi’s performance?
Buemi has done a really good job so far. You have to consider that, as the only rookie on the grid this year, he is the first real victim of the in-season testing ban. He had therefore never driven at circuits like Silverstone or the Nurburgring in a Formula 1 car, which is completely different to tackling them in other types of car. While he knows the tracks from Formula 3 or GP2, it is not at all the same, because F1 is much more complex and little details like how track conditions usually change from the third free practice session on Saturday morning, to qualifying that same afternoon, are all part of the package that only comes with experience. Up until this year, we would have done a minimum of three days testing at Silverstone for example, prior to the British Grand Prix and at many other race venues. But you can’t have everything and while we are saving money through not testing, the downside is that young drivers will suffer. What we can say is that Buemi will be a much more complete driver for the 2010 season.

Giorgio Ascanelli
We seem to have slid to the back of the grid over the past few races. Why?
There are several factors why our performance hasn’t matched up to what it was in the second half of last season. The first is that the drivers are very important and last year, Vettel matured enormously, getting over the difficult phase every young driver does, not understanding why he was fast or slow. A second factor was that last year, within the limits of our own capabilities, we went down a different route to Red Bull Racing, particularly with suspension and the braking system that was different to their car. The third point is that last year we were racing in an era where the technical rules had been more or less stable for a decade so performance levels flatten out, making it harder to come up with something new. This year, the pace of development has speeded up enormously and as a small team, we have been unable to keep up with that. Today, Red Bull for example is producing large steps forward in development on a monthly basis. We cannot do that as we don’t have the manpower. Furthermore, with a young and inexperienced driver like Buemi, when we do introduce changes, it is naturally harder for him to adapt to those changes.

Is that a criticism of Buemi?
Absolutely not: to date, he has taken part in just nine grands prix and in four of those he retired early. Add in the fact there is no testing and he is getting very little time in the car. When a young driver first comes into F1, he is like a daredevil, taking risks, but as his understanding increases and he suffers a few set backs, it knocks his confidence which then has to be rebuilt. We cannot expect him to learn any faster: he is trying his best and doing a good job. Remember that when Vettel came to us, he had done one year as a third driver for BMW and had even taken part in one Grand Prix, but he could do no better than qualify eighteenth for us in his first race, in Hungary.

We’ve been talking about this technical upgrade for weeks now. What is it?
In Hungary we have a major upgrade, which includes the floor, rear wing, rear wing endplates, a nose which has had to pass a new impact test, new brake ducts etc. – pretty much the whole damn lot! We’ve worked our hardest to get this modification package and to do it this year is much harder than the work we did last year.

But don’t you just get all the new bits from Red Bull Technology in the UK?
There is a view that the only difference between our car and the Red Bull Racing one is the engine, but that is inaccurate. It involves the engine, gearbox, clutch, hydraulic system, water, oil and electrical systems; and all this on top of the actual aero parts in terms of bodywork. The further complication is that, although we have not run it, our car was designed so that it could incorporate the Ferrari KERS system and that is very different to the one used by Renault, around which the RB5 was designed. Therefore, we are not in a “cut and paste” situation when it came to getting the parts. It was not a case of getting a drawing from Red Bull Technology and simply manufacturing it. The two cars might look the same but if you try and fit the bodywork from one on the other, it would not fit. The rear suspension is also different because, in order to maintain the same wheelbase, it needed a different arrangement.

Will it bring a performance advantage?
I will tell you once we’ve run it at the race track.

If you had to situate our car in Hungary specification with Red Bull Racing’s development, where would it be?
It would be a package equivalent to the one they introduced at the British Grand Prix.

Will it be good enough to score points?
That depends how far forward the other teams have gone, because nothing stays still in this sport. It’s not as simple as saying ‘last year we made a technical step forward for the second half of the year and performed well so the same thing will happen again.’ Last year, the Italian media was keen for me to puff out my chest and say ‘oh yes, I am very clever and I have managed to outperform our Red Bull cousins,’ but the simple answer about the end of last year is that Vettel is a great driver. I wasn’t a genius last year, but I don’t think I am an idiot this year!

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Alguersuari joins Scuderia Toro Rosso

Post by Ed » Mon Jul 20, 2009 10:29 pm

Alguersuari joins Scuderia Toro Rosso

Scuderia Toro Rosso is pleased to announce that, as from this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, Jaime Alguersuari will drive for the team, alongside Sebastien Buemi. The 19 year old Spaniard will thus become the youngest ever driver to take part in a Grand Prix weekend.

Jaime Alguersuari: “I would like to thank Red Bull for giving me this great opportunity to race in Formula 1. Ever since I started racing this has been my dream and thanks to the Red Bull Junior Programme I will now realise my ambition of lining up on a Grand Prix grid. I am aware that I’m facing a very tough challenge, because coming into Formula 1 is never easy, coming into Formula 1 in the middle of a season is even harder and doing so without any testing is really difficult. But already I feel that I am getting great support from the team, who have quite a reputation for looking after rookie drivers.”

Franz Tost: “Red Bull’s stated aim for Scuderia Toro Rosso is that, when possible, it should be used to provide a seat for products of its Young Driver Programme. We therefore chose Alguersuari as the most mature driver currently in the programme. I am well aware that over the next few months the team and Jaime will face a major challenge, especially because of the testing ban. But Red Bull is always ready for a new challenge. I do not expect anything from him for at least his first three races, during which he has to get used to the car, the team and to the Formula 1 environment

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Post by Ed » Sat Jul 25, 2009 11:33 am

Sebastien Buemi (STR4-03)
“We have the new package on the car here, but it’s not a magic trick, where you put something on the car and go a lot faster immediately. At the moment, we are trying to understand what it does in terms of car balance. It is definitely better and now our task is to get the most out of it. In between sessions there is not enough time to go in depth into the data, so this evening we will get a better picture. Generally, it has been a positive day and I think we can have a degree of confidence for qualifying. Having a new team-mate does not affect me that much as I drive my car on my own! The team seems happy and he produced a good performance.”

First Practice Session
Best lap 1.23.998, pos. 19th, 37 laps
Second Practice Session
Best lap 1.23.176, pos. 19th, 45 laps


Jaime Alguersuari (STR4-02)
“I am quite happy with how today has gone, especially this morning, when I had a good pace and felt quite confident. In the second session, my lap time could have been better, but I didn’t get a clean lap on the option tyre. I am learning all the time. The hardest part was the entry into the high speed corners, which I need to take much faster, but that will come as my confidence grows and I do more kilometres. Every time I went out from the garage, I was learning and felt more comfortable with the situation.”

First Practice Session
Best lap 1.24.228, pos. 20th, 42 laps
Second Practice Session
Best lap 1.23.942, pos. 20th, 40 laps

Franz Tost: “Jaime did a very good job in his first day of practice in Formula 1. He completed a total of 82 laps without making any mistakes. With every lap, he got more used to the car, to working with his engineers and to the general environment. Overall, it’s been a good preparation for tomorrow’s qualifying and for the race. A fantastic job so far.”

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Post by Ed » Sun Jul 26, 2009 12:53 am

Hungarian Formula 1 Qualifying

Sebastien Buemi (STR4-03)

“Finishing eleventh, one tenth off P10 shows we have made progress, a very big step forward since the last race. It was a good qualifying for us, even if it is frustrating to finish eleventh because you want Q3. But it means we can run whatever fuel load we want for the race and I think we will be in good shape for tomorrow.”

Third Practice Session: Best lap 1.21.800, pos. 5th,23 laps
Qualifying Session: Best lap 1.21.002, pos. 11th

Jaime Alguersuari (STR4-02)

“Finishing qualifying with a failure is never good – I had a problem with the throttle control system - but we have to be content because I didn’t make any mistakes so far this weekend. On my first two sets of tyres I did a good job. As for the race, I am really looking forward to it and I will be happy if I finish.”

Third Practice Session: Best lap 1.22.391, pos. 18th, 20 laps
Qualifying Session: Best lap 1.22.359, pos. 20th

Giorgio Ascanelli: “First of all, the thoughts of everyone at Toro Rosso are with Felipe Massa at this time. As for our performance, obviously, the development that was introduced by Red Bull Racing at the British Grand Prix, has partly been used on our cars here for the first time. It is not yet the complete package and it has proved very effective, as can be seen by Sebastien’s performance. I have to congratulate Jaime on a good job without doing anything silly. His stop was due to a problem caused by the introduction of the new hydraulic system, required to run the new modifications. We still have a long way to go with this car, but I think we can have a good race. Eleventh on the grid better than tenth? If it’s a choice between an egg today or a chicken tomorrow, I would always take the egg!”

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Post by Ed » Mon Jul 27, 2009 1:42 am

Jaime Alguersuari
Pos. 15th - STR4-02
“I am very happy to have finished, but the last five laps were very difficult from the physical point of view. I found it hard to keep the car on the pace, but I am very satisfied. P15 is not so bad, but the main objective was to complete the 70 laps, with no mistakes, maintaining my pace. I have learned a lot but I have to say there are some aspects of F1 which made me think, ‘s#$% this is tough.”

Sebastien Buemi
Pos. 16th - STR4-03

“I am very disappointed with this race, as I made a lot of mistakes and I am not at all happy with my performance. I don’t think starting on the harder tyres was the right decision. I lost several places at the start and got stuck in traffic. Just a bad race. The car was good, as we showed in qualifying but today I was the one who made the mistakes. The only positive thing is that the car is definitely improved with this new package.”

Franz Tost: “Well done to Jaime on finishing his first race, which means he’s learned a lot this weekend. That was our main target with him. He will need another two races, after which I expect to see him make it through to Q2. Unfortunately, Sebastien caught some debris on the right side of the front wing, damaging it, thus losing performance. We will now focus on Valencia, where we will have a new front wing which should help us to improve our overall performance.”

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Post by Ed » Tue Aug 18, 2009 11:39 pm

European Grand Prix preview

Postcards from the break

Salut,

I‛m finally home in Switzerland doing some running, cycling and tennis with my trainer at the end of a busy break time! Just three days after Hungary, I found myself back at the Nürburgring for a promotional event for Puma, with my cousin Natacha Gachnang, who races in F2. She got the fun part of the deal, driving people round the race track, while I was stuck doing interviews! After that I joined my family in Spain for a holiday near Malaga. I went running on the beach every day, but my dad soon had me busy working on the house, painting walls and trimming the hedge. It‛s something of an annual tradition!
I also fitted in a quick trip to Austria, as I was invited by Mr. Mateschitz to attend a yodelling concert near Salzburg. It was rather special.

Sébastien

Hola,

I’m in Ibiza, relaxing with my family and friends. I think I’ll appreciate this break, as the final part of the season will be very intense and tough. What else have I done during this break from racing in F1? I went to Portugal to race in the Renault World Series. A great weekend at the Portimao circuit ended with my first win in the category, as well as getting on the podium in third spot in the other race. After that, I spent a few days training at home in Barcelona where I also found time to indulge my passion for working the decks as a DJ. It was an event with fifty of some of the top DJs in the world and I played two sets which seemed to go down well with the crowd. It was the first time I’d taken part in a major event like this and it was fun for everyone, especially for me. Looking forward to seeing you in my home country this weekend.

Jaime

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Post by Ed » Sat Aug 22, 2009 4:18 pm

Sebastien Buemi (STR4-03)
“It was really hot today in the cockpit, especially as we were doing long runs in preparation for the race. The track was very dirty and green at first but it improved continuously, especially in the final ten minutes of the last session, so you had to be out on track at that moment, if you wanted a good lap time. We’ve got a new front wing here and it seems to bring the benefits we expected, which is positive. Now, as always we need to analyse the day’s data to see how we can improve for tomorrow. I am quite confident we can have a good weekend.”

First Practice Session
Best lap 1.43.389, pos. 11th, 30 laps
Second Practice Session
Best lap 1.41.156, pos. 16th, 34 laps


Jaime Alguersuari (STR4-02)
“The heat was an important factor for me today, as I have not had that much time in a Formula 1 car yet and the high temperatures made things worse from that point of view. The day’s work went quite well and we made good progress, even if we went a bit far on set-up changes in the morning, which meant that as track conditions changed in the afternoon, our performance didn’t really get better. We need to improve the car and I need to drive better on the Option tyre. Not a bad first day overall.”

First Practice Session
Best lap 1.43.637, pos. 13th, 30 laps
Second Practice Session
Best lap 1.42.089, pos. 19th, 34 laps

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Post by Ed » Sun Aug 23, 2009 12:10 am

Sebastien Buemi (STR4-03)

“Even though I got into Q2, I’m a bit disappointed, because in Q1 I was sixth with a good lap time and then in Q2, we did not manage the tyre situation well, especially on my “out” lap and I ended up doing worse than in Q1. Now we must look at what happened, because I think I might even have had the possibility to get into Q3. We are making progress.”

Third Practice Session: Best lap 1.40.118, pos. 11th, 12 laps
Qualifying Session: Best lap 1.39.514, pos. 15th

Jaime Alguersuari (STR4-02)

“I know what I am capable of and with this being only my second F1 qualifying session, I have to be patient. I am happy that even though this track is longer than at my first race in Hungary, the gap to the drivers ahead of me is getting smaller. I am feeling more confident in the car every time I drive it. It’s going to be tough tomorrow as it seems to be getting hotter and hotter. I think I can do a good job in the race, bring the car home and hopefully end up at least in the top fifteen.”

Third Practice Session: Best lap 1.41.125, pos. 19th, 12 laps
Qualifying Session: Best lap 1.39.925, pos. 19th


Giorgio Ascanelli: “Not much to say: we got one car through to Q2 and both cars have run reliably over the past two days.”

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Post by Ed » Mon Aug 24, 2009 12:55 am

Jaime Alguersuari (STR4-02)
Pos. 16th
“This was much tougher for me than Hungary, because of the heat and humidity. With ten laps remaining, I had a problem with my drinks system which meant I couldn’t get anything to drink. It was really tough and I just did my best to finish and bring home the car. On the plus side I have now done a lot more kilometres and I therefore hope this will help me do better in Spa, where at least it won’t be as hot.”

Sebastien Buemi (STR4-03)
Retired
“My race was more or less over immediately after the start. I will have to watch the race to see exactly what happened. I moved to the inside to try and avoid the bottleneck and as Glock accelerated, he drove over my wing which obviously broke and the time I lost coming back to the pits to replace it meant my race was done. I carried on pushing to see what lap times I could do and what the car was capable of, but I soon had braking problems and eventually the disc broke and I had to park the car. The last few race weekends have not gone well, but you have to stay positive. The car seems to have improved, so we have the potential to do better. Let’s see at Spa.”

Franz Tost: “Unfortunately for Buemi, his race was effectively over at the first corner, when he collided with Glock, losing the front wing. He had to pit for a new nose and we assume that the accident had also damaged the left front brake duct, so the brake didn’t cool properly, which led to the failure that put him out of the race. Alguersuari did a good job to finish in these tough conditions, in what we must not forget, is only his second F1 race.”

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Post by Ed » Sat Aug 29, 2009 12:56 am

Belgian Grand Prix

Friday Practice

Jaime Alguersuari (STR4-02)
“In the past I’ve been competitive here in Formula 3 and other series and I think today went quite well. It’s nice to drive a Formula 1 car on a track where you feel at ease. I’m getting a better feeling for the car now and we made some good improvements to it during the two sessions, even if there is a little bit more still to come. My pace is improving, as I get more confident with the car in the fast corners.”

First Practice Session
Best lap 1.51.529, pos. 5th, 24 laps
Second Practice Session
Best lap 1.47.579, pos. 9th, 36 laps


Sebastien Buemi (STR4-03)
“This is a beautiful circuit and we had a very good car, so I am happy with the way things went today. We managed to improve the car lap after lap and we are working in the right direction. I think we have good speed, although we won’t get the full picture until qualifying tomorrow. There is not that much difference between the two types of tyre, but as always we are a little bit faster on the Option.”

First Practice Session
Best lap 1.51.045, pos. 4th, 20 laps
Second Practice Session
Best lap 1.47.702, pos. 11th, 38 laps

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Post by Ed » Sun Aug 30, 2009 1:16 am

Belgian Grand Prix - Qualifying

Sebastien Buemi (STR4-03)
“I had a good first run on the Option tyre, but with my second set I had a bit of traffic on my warm-up lap and I didn’t get my flying lap together. Then at the final braking point I locked up my rear wheels and so the lap was spoilt. Even though we knew it could be difficult to get to Q2, I am disappointed with my performance. Finding the right compromise on set-up is difficult here between running low downforce for the fast sections and having enough to deal with the slower parts. As for the race, we need to look closely at our tyre strategy as both types of tyre work well here.”

Third Practice Session: Best lap 1.46.417, pos.12th, 19 laps
Qualifying Session: Best lap 1.45.951, pos. 16th


Jaime Alguersuari (STR4-02)
“It was always going to be tough to get into Q2. We were lacking speed on the main straight in Sector 1 and Sector 3, but I did a good time in Sector 2. The main thing for me is that I am making progress: in Hungary I was last on the grid, then Valencia 19th and today I am 17th, so it’s getting better. Hopefully, I can work my way up to pole one day! I still need to build up more confidence with the car and the tyres in the quick corners.”

Third Practice Session: Best lap 1.46.814, pos. 15th, 22 laps
Qualifying Session: Best lap 1.46.032, pos. 17th

Laurent Mekies: “Not the outcome we were expecting. Jaime did a good job, making progress throughout the weekend, in what is only his third race. Sebastien had a very good first run, but unfortunately we could not repeat it on his second one and so we slid out of the Q2 zone. However, we feel we have better potential than we showed this afternoon and we hope we can demonstrate that in tomorrow’s race.”

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