Toro Rosso had mixed fortunes today in Bahrain, with reasonable pace in the first practice session, but a problem with Buemi’s car meant he could take no part in the second practice session.
Alguersuari and Buemi finished 11th and 14th respectively in the morning session, but only the Spaniard Alguersuari had a STR-05 at his disposal for the afternoon, and he managed 16th on the timesheets.
Both Toro Rosso drivers had taken advantage of a simulator to learn the modified Sakhir circuit. Alguersuari described the new section as “nothing special and very slow”, whilst teammate Buemi was a little more positive. “The changes to the track were much as I expected and there is a big bump at Turn 6. There are no passing places in the new section, but it makes for a longer track which is more interesting to drive.”
The different fortunes of the two drivers was reflected in their post-practice comments. Alguersuari thinks there is more to come from the car. “A good day in which we did all the laps we could, trying many different things. I think we improved during the day, but it's hard to know where you are with the wide range of fuel loads being used. I feel the performance is there and if we have another nice day tomorrow, then we should be able to get the most out of the car.”
Buemi was frustrated with his technical issues in second practice, but knows where the car set-up needs to improve. “You need to be competitive in Sector 2 for a good lap time, which means you must compromise between needing high downforce for this slow part, while less downforce will make you quicker in Sectors 1 and 2. Fortunately, we will be able to analyse Jaime's data and start from a better position tomorrow. However, when you miss most of Friday testing, it doesn't make life easy. But we have to live with that and concentrate on tomorrow.”
