Buemi: Tenth the limit for Toro Rosso
Formula 1's sole 2009 rookie Sebastien Buemi expressed delight at having made it in to the top ten shoot-out in qualifying for only his third grand prix
The Scuderia Toro Rosso driver qualified tenth for the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai and explained afterwards that this was the maximum he could have achieved with the STR4 despite not using his super-soft tyres in Q3.
"I am really happy to be in Q3, as it's more than I had expected," said the Swiss. "I don't think I could have got any higher up the order.
"On low fuel, the car was very good, but we didn't have any new options left for Q3, so I had to do three flying laps on the prime, so considering that, we can be satisfied with this.
"The team worked really well, doing a fantastic job to improve the car a lot since the start of the season and today it worked very well. Now, I am very much looking forward to tomorrow's race."
Team-mate Sebastien Bourdais did not make it past the first stage of qualifying and blamed his 16th position on a mistake: "I tried to optimise my line to take Turn 8, but I cut the apex too much and got on the marbles and the dirt on the left side and so the car never really turned in.
"Because of the dirt on the tyres, the next few corners were a disaster, losing me around half a second."
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Archive: How Button achieved a rare Formula Ford feat
Why the Nurburgring 24 Hours is better than ever
Is Forza still king of the gaming hill?
WEC Fuji: Toyota flexes its muscles in second practice
The top 10 Formula E drivers of 2022-23
Ranking the 10 best drivers of an F1 junior series stalwart
How studying Tost, Whiting and Binotto shaped F1's latest team boss
Ricciardo felt "rapid" before Stroll F1 clash in China
RB brands Ricciardo/Tsunoda Chinese GP crashes “unnecessary”
Why do so many F1 stars live in Monaco?
Bagnaia used Jerez MotoGP practice “as a test” for “big” change
Newgarden “didn’t rehearse” emotional IndyCar press conference
Teams expect Sainz's F1 China qualifying incident to be cleared up
How studying Tost, Whiting and Binotto shaped F1's latest team boss
The F1 hero to zero dividing line that has never been so thin
How Stroll and Magnussen revealed the scale of F1’s racing and rules problems
Did F1's new sprint format work?
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments