Sebastien Buemi was in the FIA press conference on Thursday, looking back at Valencia and forward to Spa.
"I would say that Valencia was a difficult weekend in the end but we could improve our performance. We see that if we put everything together we can be in the top 10 which is quite positive. We just need to keep pushing hard. We will have another small step on the car for this weekend, so hopefully we will be able to have a clean weekend without any mistakes or whatever. I am sure if we can put everything together we can finish around P10 or P8.
Some of Buemi’s optimism comes from looking at Red Bull Racing’s performance.
"Now it is nearly 11 races I have done in F1, so I am getting used to it. We will see what we can do. The circuit should be good for our car as we saw Red Bull performed really well in Silverstone. It was a fast circuit and it is again the case here, so we should be quite confident at the moment.
"I’m just looking forward to driving the circuit because it’s a beautiful circuit, it’s one of my favourites."
Friday, 28 August 2009
Wednesday, 26 August 2009
Toro Rosso looking for improvements at Spa
Disappointing is the only way to describe the outcome of the European Grand Prix for Scuderia Toro Rosso, with Sébastien sidelined with brake problems, after having to make an early stop to replace a nose and Jaime valiantly fighting on home turf despite the intense heat, which was more of a problem when his drink bottle system stopped delivering water with ten laps to go.
At least the Spaniard finished the race, gaining valuable experience now having completed all race laps in two grands prix.
Having had to deal with one race today, the mechanics immediately start another one, packing everything away in a rush to get the transporters on the road first thing tomorrow morning, for the long drive to Spa Francorchamps where we start all over again, when the green light comes on at the end of the pit lane for Friday morning’s free practice for the Belgian Grand Prix.
While Ferrari’s Luca Badoer came in for a lot of criticism this weekend, with people commenting he was too old to get the job done, Rubens Barrichello proved this sport isn’t all about the kids like our Seb and Jaime. The oldest man on the grid, the Brazilian drove a perfectly judged race to outpace the more fancied McLarens to claim his first win since his Ferrari days. Lewis Hamilton came second ahead of the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen. The remaining points went to fourth placed Heikki Kovalainen, then the order was Nico Rosberg, Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button and Robert Kubica.
At least the Spaniard finished the race, gaining valuable experience now having completed all race laps in two grands prix.
Having had to deal with one race today, the mechanics immediately start another one, packing everything away in a rush to get the transporters on the road first thing tomorrow morning, for the long drive to Spa Francorchamps where we start all over again, when the green light comes on at the end of the pit lane for Friday morning’s free practice for the Belgian Grand Prix.
While Ferrari’s Luca Badoer came in for a lot of criticism this weekend, with people commenting he was too old to get the job done, Rubens Barrichello proved this sport isn’t all about the kids like our Seb and Jaime. The oldest man on the grid, the Brazilian drove a perfectly judged race to outpace the more fancied McLarens to claim his first win since his Ferrari days. Lewis Hamilton came second ahead of the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen. The remaining points went to fourth placed Heikki Kovalainen, then the order was Nico Rosberg, Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button and Robert Kubica.
Saturday, 22 August 2009
Buemi frustrated with Q2 pace slump
Sebastian Buemi was disappointed to qualify only 15th for the European Grand Prix as he believes there was more potential in his Toro Rosso, after the car got slower following his progression into Q2.
After setting a strong sixth-quickest time to emphatically seal a place in the second qualifying stage, Buemi then unusually lapped 0.6s off his Q1 effort meaning he made no progress from the 15th spot he was already guaranteed.
Had the Swiss rookie simply matched his Q1 lap he would had qualified two places higher, furthermore he believes the top-10 was even possible had the team got more out of its tyres and made the usual improvement in time in the second session.
Nevertheless, given STR had struggled to progress into Q2 before he did so in Hungary, the Swiss youngster is pleased the team is on the up again.
“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.”
New team-mate Jaime Alguersuari again failed to clear the back row in his second Formula 1 qualifying session after lapping a full second slower than Buemi in Q1, although he was sparred the slowest qualifying time by the helpless Luca Badoer.
Spain’s new hope, however, took comfort from the fact he was close to the pace of Jarno Trulli’s Toyota immediately ahead of him on the grid and now, while expecting the sweltering conditions to prove a test, is eyeing another solid race finish on Sunday.
“I know what I am capable of and with this being only my second F1 qualifying session, I have to be patient," he said.
“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 15.”
After setting a strong sixth-quickest time to emphatically seal a place in the second qualifying stage, Buemi then unusually lapped 0.6s off his Q1 effort meaning he made no progress from the 15th spot he was already guaranteed.
Had the Swiss rookie simply matched his Q1 lap he would had qualified two places higher, furthermore he believes the top-10 was even possible had the team got more out of its tyres and made the usual improvement in time in the second session.
Nevertheless, given STR had struggled to progress into Q2 before he did so in Hungary, the Swiss youngster is pleased the team is on the up again.
“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.”
New team-mate Jaime Alguersuari again failed to clear the back row in his second Formula 1 qualifying session after lapping a full second slower than Buemi in Q1, although he was sparred the slowest qualifying time by the helpless Luca Badoer.
Spain’s new hope, however, took comfort from the fact he was close to the pace of Jarno Trulli’s Toyota immediately ahead of him on the grid and now, while expecting the sweltering conditions to prove a test, is eyeing another solid race finish on Sunday.
“I know what I am capable of and with this being only my second F1 qualifying session, I have to be patient," he said.
“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 15.”
Friday, 21 August 2009
European Grand Prix: Friday Practice
In the first practice session in Valencia, Séb recorded a best time of 1:43.389 (11th) over 30 laps, while Jaime’s was 1:43.637 (13th) over 30 laps. Leading the table was Brawn’s Barrichello with 1:42.460.
Friday, 14 August 2009
Alguersuari to improve race skills outside of Grand Prix
At just 19, and with just one Grand Prix under his belt, Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari is by far the least experienced driver on the Formula One grid. However, Alguersuari, who was promoted to the Italian team’s race seat after Sebastien Bourdais was released from his contract early, is determined he’ll continue to race as much as possible outside of the F1 calendar to hone his skills.
The Spaniard enjoyed an impressive debut at the Hungarian race last month, qualifying in 19th and finishing the Hungaroring race in 15th, ahead of team mate Sebastien Buemi. A week later he was back in the cockpit of his Formula Renault 3.5 car at Portugal’s Portimao track.
Driving for Carlin, as part of his Red Bull-backed young driver training programme, he took his first victory in the series from pole. In addition to his decision to continue in Formula Renault, when his Formula One schedule allows, Alguersuari has also announced he will take part in a karting championship in Italy next month.
“I will be competing in the KZI World Karting Championship in Sarno, Naples in September,” he explained. “I am only interested in learning, and learning to compete against the best. Portimao and Sarno mean the same to me, pitting myself against the best drivers right now.”
Alguersuari will be back competing against his Formula One rivals in Valencia next weekend, as the European Grand Prix gets underway in the Spanish city.
The Spaniard enjoyed an impressive debut at the Hungarian race last month, qualifying in 19th and finishing the Hungaroring race in 15th, ahead of team mate Sebastien Buemi. A week later he was back in the cockpit of his Formula Renault 3.5 car at Portugal’s Portimao track.
Driving for Carlin, as part of his Red Bull-backed young driver training programme, he took his first victory in the series from pole. In addition to his decision to continue in Formula Renault, when his Formula One schedule allows, Alguersuari has also announced he will take part in a karting championship in Italy next month.
“I will be competing in the KZI World Karting Championship in Sarno, Naples in September,” he explained. “I am only interested in learning, and learning to compete against the best. Portimao and Sarno mean the same to me, pitting myself against the best drivers right now.”
Alguersuari will be back competing against his Formula One rivals in Valencia next weekend, as the European Grand Prix gets underway in the Spanish city.
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
Monday, 10 August 2009
Toro Rosso - Track Record in Valencia
There’s not much history to Valencia, as it only made its debut on the F1 calendar last year.
Built on the back of Alonso fever, after the Spaniard won two world titles, it promised a lot in terms of the venue but delivered little in terms of racing excitement. As a street circuit, it was billed as Spain’s answer to Monaco, but in terms of glamour, mayhem and excitement it currently falls far short of its target, but then you can’t create a history spanning decades in a matter of months.
The paddock certainly caused a stir. The garages offer adequate space and the trucks, instead of being out in the open as at most races, are under cover in what used to be a fish market, so the whole area has the feel of a giant exhibition centre.
The motorhome area is separated from the garages by a block of buildings and this is the crowning glory of the new venue as it affords fabulous views of the harbour used for the Americas Cup sailing races, a sport even more riven with politics than F1.
Last year, the whole port area, although home to some fantastic and futuristic architecture, including museums and Europe’s biggest aquarium, was pretty much a building site and a fine layer of dust covered everyone and everything.
As for the track, it is 5.419 kilometres in length long and incorporates a total of 25 turns - 11 right-handers and 14 left-handers. Cars hit a top speed of around 320 km/h and the lap record is held by last year’s race winner, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa in a time of 1:38.708.
Our Track Record in Valencia:
2008
Sebastian Vettel 6th
Sébastien Bourdais 10th
Built on the back of Alonso fever, after the Spaniard won two world titles, it promised a lot in terms of the venue but delivered little in terms of racing excitement. As a street circuit, it was billed as Spain’s answer to Monaco, but in terms of glamour, mayhem and excitement it currently falls far short of its target, but then you can’t create a history spanning decades in a matter of months.
The paddock certainly caused a stir. The garages offer adequate space and the trucks, instead of being out in the open as at most races, are under cover in what used to be a fish market, so the whole area has the feel of a giant exhibition centre.
The motorhome area is separated from the garages by a block of buildings and this is the crowning glory of the new venue as it affords fabulous views of the harbour used for the Americas Cup sailing races, a sport even more riven with politics than F1.
Last year, the whole port area, although home to some fantastic and futuristic architecture, including museums and Europe’s biggest aquarium, was pretty much a building site and a fine layer of dust covered everyone and everything.
As for the track, it is 5.419 kilometres in length long and incorporates a total of 25 turns - 11 right-handers and 14 left-handers. Cars hit a top speed of around 320 km/h and the lap record is held by last year’s race winner, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa in a time of 1:38.708.
Our Track Record in Valencia:
2008
Sebastian Vettel 6th
Sébastien Bourdais 10th
Friday, 7 August 2009
From the Toro Rosso website
Looking at the positive, the general view in the paddock was that our new boy, Jaime Alguersuari would be a danger to others and when he proved over the two days of qualifying that was not the case, the next piece of accepted wisdom was that he wouldn’t be able to finish this physically demanding race, because his neck wouldn’t be strong enough to hold his head up for 70 laps. Wrong again. In short, Jaime ticked all the boxes this weekend, learning and improving with every lap of the track.
Naturally, as the newest and youngest kid on the block, he was the focus of media attention, but let’s not forget that his team-mate is not exactly the world’s most experienced F1 driver, with just ten F1 starts under his belt. He didn’t have a great day, not helped by debris damaging his front wing early on, but he is mature enough to admit to having made mistakes and that is not something racing drivers find easy to do!
We now have to wait four weeks to resume battle in Valencia and for two of those, the Formula One World Championship takes its first ever official holiday in its 59-year history. It’s going to be frustrating for the designers and engineers champing at the bit to carry on moving forward with the development of TR4, but at least their kids might recognise them now and their pets might not growl when they walk in the front door at home!
You’ll never guess who won? Lewis Hamilton. Yes, really, the reigning world champion produced a typically aggressive and faultless performance, making the most of his KERS at the start to go from fourth on the grid to second immediately after the start. It was the Englishman’s and McLaren’s first victory of the year and joining him on the podium were second placed Kimi Raikkonen, which must have been a great morale booster for Ferrari after Massa’s terrible accident in qualifying and third placed Mark Webber for our friends at Red Bull Racing.
Round 11 of the world championship takes place in Valencia and so yet again the media spotlight will fall on our Alguersuari, as one of two Spanish drivers on the grid. Before getting there, Jaime will probably be the only F1 driver to get some cockpit time, as he is competing in another round of the World Series by Renault at the Algarve circuit Portimao next weekend.
Naturally, as the newest and youngest kid on the block, he was the focus of media attention, but let’s not forget that his team-mate is not exactly the world’s most experienced F1 driver, with just ten F1 starts under his belt. He didn’t have a great day, not helped by debris damaging his front wing early on, but he is mature enough to admit to having made mistakes and that is not something racing drivers find easy to do!
We now have to wait four weeks to resume battle in Valencia and for two of those, the Formula One World Championship takes its first ever official holiday in its 59-year history. It’s going to be frustrating for the designers and engineers champing at the bit to carry on moving forward with the development of TR4, but at least their kids might recognise them now and their pets might not growl when they walk in the front door at home!
You’ll never guess who won? Lewis Hamilton. Yes, really, the reigning world champion produced a typically aggressive and faultless performance, making the most of his KERS at the start to go from fourth on the grid to second immediately after the start. It was the Englishman’s and McLaren’s first victory of the year and joining him on the podium were second placed Kimi Raikkonen, which must have been a great morale booster for Ferrari after Massa’s terrible accident in qualifying and third placed Mark Webber for our friends at Red Bull Racing.
Round 11 of the world championship takes place in Valencia and so yet again the media spotlight will fall on our Alguersuari, as one of two Spanish drivers on the grid. Before getting there, Jaime will probably be the only F1 driver to get some cockpit time, as he is competing in another round of the World Series by Renault at the Algarve circuit Portimao next weekend.
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