Both Toro Rosso drivers were in a positive mood after Friday practice in Canada. Sebastien Buemi, who ran in only the afternoon session, finished the day in P13, just ahead of team-mate Jaime Alguersuari.
Reserve driver Daniel Ricciardo was in Buemi’s car for the morning session, which he finished in P15, completing 35 laps of the Montreal circuit.
“Good to be back in the car, because having had Spain and Monaco one after the other, it has seemed like a long wait to go racing again,” said Buemi, reflecting on his day. “I didn't run this morning, which is fine, but it makes the afternoon more important.
“I did many laps which is positive, given that it was a tricky session with some cars going off track. We ran low downforce wings of course for this circuit and we have a good understanding of how they are working. It's very nice to drive the car in low downforce configuration, with a very high top speed which is exciting.
“This track is always demanding for the brakes and so we pushed really hard on them today and now we must look at the data to see if we have made the correct cooling calculations.”
Some would suggest that Alguersuari has been under-performing in recent races, especially when compared to Buemi, but the young Spaniard feels that he has made a big step forward today in his driving of the STR6: “I feel I have made a step forward here in terms of my understanding of the car, because I suffered a bit in recent races, so that is a positive aspect of the day,” he said.
“I am still struggling a bit to get the tyres to work properly over a single flying lap so we must work on that, although it might be difficult to do that tomorrow morning as I hear rain is forecast. On the other hand, I was very impressed with our long run race simulation, because the car seemed to perform much more consistently than in the past. For example, degradation on the rear tyres does not appear to be much of an issue.
“As for the brakes, I had a better feel for them here than in Monaco, so I think overall we are making good progress.”
Daniel Ricciardo enjoyed his first experience of driving the Canadian Grand Prix track: “I attended the race last year but this is the first time I have been on track here,” said the young Australian. “It's awesome and walking the track, or driving it on the simulator does not give you a real impression of how good it is. It's really more than I expected.
“I love being able to get out on track and really attack it and use the kerbs. Getting close to the walls gives the driver the impression of really owning the car and manhandling it which is good fun. So, a very enjoyable session.”
