Sebastien Buemi declared himself disappointed after qualifying only thirteenth for tomorrow’s Monaco Grand Prix, while teammate Jaime Alguersuari blamed traffic for his seventeenth place grid position.
Swiss driver Buemi was eighth fastest in the morning practice session and had hoped to translate this form into a top ten grid position. “I am a little bit disappointed,” said the Toro Rosso driver, “because I had hoped to do a bit better, maybe getting into Q3, based on what I had done in this morning's practice. So, if you don't get the maximum out of the car, you cannot be satisfied.
“I did not have too much trouble with traffic, but I don't think we managed well the situation regarding the change of temperature between the morning and the afternoon, which meant the tyres were working a bit differently. My aim tomorrow will be to get into the points, which means getting ahead of at least three cars.
“It's a very long race here, so before doing that, the most important element will be to make sure we get to the finish. On the positive side, our pace over a long run has been good so far this weekend.”
Jaime Alguersuari was happy with his personal performance in qualifying, but blamed traffic for his low grid position. “I can be satisfied with the fact that I tried my best,” said the Spaniard, “but I'm not happy about how much traffic I met on every lap, especially on the last run, when I really had to back off in the last two corners, which means my day ended in Q2.
“I'm looking forward to tomorrow's race, which will be very long and to a certain extent on this very special track, my main aim will be to finish, as that will give me plenty of experience for next year.”
Technical director Giorgio Ascanelli sounded philosophical in his summing up of today’s qualifying session: “There's not much to say after today's qualifying. I would not describe it as disappointing, because when all is said and done, this is Monaco which sets its own challenge.
“In Jaime's case, it was his first time here in a Formula 1 car and he struggled a bit and Sebastien's result shows pretty much where we are. We did not get it completely right, but then nobody really does here and we had our share of traffic and mistakes, but it was not a major drama.”
Photo Credit: Mark Thompson/Getty Images
