The two Toro Rosso drivers had a productive Friday in Barcelona today as Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari each managed to complete more than 60 laps over the two practice sessions.
The two drivers finished the morning session 11th and 14th, and the afternoon session 14th and 17th. Alguersuari was behind his more experienced teammate on both occasions.
Buemi was unaffected by reliability issues today but was disappointed with the performance of the STR5. “We ran trouble-free all day, with no issues on the car, which meant I was able to complete a lot of laps which is a positive start to the weekend.
“However, I am not completely happy in terms of performance, as we seem to be a bit further back than where we were at the last race in China. We need to understand why, but on the plus side, we now have plenty of data to study from today's runs in both high and lower fuel configuration. The tyre comparison seemed straightforward with the Option being faster of course, although the situation was not quite so clear over the long run.”
Jaime Alguersuari, who is racing at his home grand prix this weekend, had a minor setback towards the end of the day. However, the Spaniard sounded positive afterwards and is glad to have arrived at a track he knows well. “The day went quite well, but there is more potential to come from the car, which we will be trying to get out of it tomorrow. I am happy with the work done so far, as we tested a lot of things, including a good race simulation and we know where we can improve.
“Both tyres worked well with not much sign of degradation, but we will have to see how they go tomorrow as, at this track, things can change from one day to the next. In lower fuel configuration we were lacking a bit of speed, but I think we can make a step forward tomorrow.
“It was enjoyable to finally be at a track that I know well, which meant I was able to push hard right from the start of practice. At the moment, we have not identified the cause of the problem that stopped me on track a couple of minutes before the end of the session.”
