The Toro Rosso drivers spent a cold, damp Friday in Turkey testing various set-ups on the STR6 for Sunday’s Grand Prix, whilst having plenty of chance to test the extreme wet Pirelli tyres.
Sebastien Buemi finished the day as the twelfth fastest driver, and was pleased with how the two practice sessions had gone, despite the inclement weather. “This morning's session went well and we managed to complete quite a few laps on the extremes, although we did not use the intermediates, as the conditions never seemed good enough,” the Swiss driver commented. “At least we have a good read of how the extremes behave, so if it rains on Sunday we will know what to do.
“Apart, from that, it was a productive day for us in general, trying a few different set-up changes and I am quite happy with the work we completed today. But of course, this is only Friday, so we need to study the data carefully and hopefully we can maintain the good performance level we have seen in the first three races.
“From the tyre comparison I did, the difference between the two compounds seems smaller than usual, but it is still too early to draw any definite conclusion.”
Jaime Alguersuari sat out the morning session as Australian rookie Daniel Ricciardo took over practice duties. The 21-year-old had a very wet introduction to the Turkish track, but still managed to finished the session as the eighth fastest driver.
“This was my very first time driving at the Istanbul track and the session went well giving me an understanding of why drivers are so keen on this circuit, with all its undulations and different types of corner,” said Ricciardo. “I enjoyed it, even if the conditions were not ideal.
“It was useful to drive in the wet, because this was only the second time I've had that experience after a few laps at Barcelona in winter testing. I felt confident and comfortable in the wet and I ran just with the extreme rain tyres. We considered intermediates, but there was too much standing water on the track.”
Alguersuari was in his car for the second 90-minute session, but was not happy with the set-up at the end of the day. He finished down in fourteenth.
“I think we have a lot of work to do to prepare for tomorrow, because I did not have a good feel for the car today, so we need to concentrate on finding a better set-up for the rest of the weekend,” the Spaniard said. “We will look at the data to analyse what we need to do, although I have a good idea where the problem lies and I am sure the engineers will know what to do. I ran a different set-up to my team-mate today, which at least means we have more data to study.”
