Toro Rosso: Alguersuari shines in team’s best result for 50 races

2011 Korean GP team review

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Jaime Alguersuari equalled the best finish of his career with seventh while Toro Rosso scored their best result since Melbourne 2009.

Sebastien BuemiJaime Alguersuari
Qualifying position1311
Qualifying time comparison (Q2)1’38.508 (+0.193)1’38.315
Race position97
Laps55/5555/55
Pit stops22

Sebastien Buemi

Start tyreSuper soft
Pit stop 1Soft 22.098s
Pit stop 2Super soft 21.992s

Buemi was tapped by Kamui Kobayashi at the first corner and dropped back three places to 17th.

But he made rapid progress, passing Heikki Kovalainen and then the two Williams drivers over the next three laps.

He claimed another victim in the DRS zone on lap seven, taking 13th off Kobayashi.

Buemi spent the second stint catching the Force Indias, and used the DRS zone again to demote Paul di Resta.

He found himself back behind the Force India in the final stint but once again he was able to take the VJM04 and claim ninth place.

Sebastien Buemi 2011 form guide

Jaime Alguersuari

Start tyreSuper soft
Pit stop 1Super soft 22.301s
Pit stop 2Soft 22.325s

Alguersuari had a run-in with Sebastian Vettel in the final practice session, the world champion clearly getting agitated as he caught the Toro Rosso driver.

Alguersuari explained what happened: “I was on a long run, he was on his fast lap, so I let him by.

“Then he made a mistake so he was behind me, but he caught me again. Having already let him by once, I pushed for another lap on my long run. You cannot keep letting one driver pass you.

“I know it would have been easier for him if I had moved over again, but I also had a job to do to get enough data, because we had no information regarding a long run in the dry because of yesterday’s rain. I’m sorry about that, but they have to understand my point of view too.”

Alguersuari’s practice efforts paid off as he matched his best career result with seventh on race day.

His progress in the race was aided by the Toro Rosso being the best part of 4kph quicker than any other car through the speed trap. He passed both Force India drivers in the first stint and gained two more places after the crash between Michael Schumacher and Vitaly Petrov.

In the final stint he chased down Nico Rosberg and passed the Mercedes in the DRS zone on the penultimate lap – only to run wide and lose the place again.

He tried again on the final tour and this time he was successful, claiming a ‘best of the rest’ seventh behind the Red Bulls, McLarens and Ferraris.

He praised the team’s developments afterwards, saying: “The Toro Rosso team has done a fantastic job, not just this weekend, but also going back to Suzuka, where we introduced some updates on the car.

“In Japan, we did not make the most of them but in the few days in between the races the team has done really well to move forward for here.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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11 comments on “Toro Rosso: Alguersuari shines in team’s best result for 50 races”

  1. Great drive by both drivers. It looks as if Toro Rosso has improved over the season like Williams did last year. I hope they will finish 6th or 7th in the constructors’ championship.

  2. I feel Alguersuari is slowly growing into a more complete package. Still be bit inconsistent, but he really is a serious candidate for the driver of the weekend to me.

    1. I had him as my Driver of the day. As you say, still a tad inconsistant but keeps improving.

      Impressive result by him & Buemi.

    2. @BasCB No doubt about it that he was my driver of the weekend, one of the most enjoyable races of the season from him for me.

  3. Great (and quiet) job by STR this season. I’ll be surprised if they don’t overtake Sauber in the end.

    Jaime’s ahead of Di Resta in the championship too!

  4. Good to see, it wasn t just the “saving tyres magic”… :) Well done, Jaime!
    Now I believe Koba s position in standings is reachable…

  5. I absolutely loved their race! What a great result for them and especially Alguersuari. I know he had a far superior top speed but seeing him kill Rosberg on the long straight was just, wow!

  6. Alguersuari was amazing. Toro rosso’s top speed was astonishing(they were faster than DRS enabled top teams!), with good race pace, they managed to have very good race.

  7. Great race by ALG, hope he retains his seat for next year.

  8. A word for Buemi too, who pulled off numerous good overtakes, including Di Resta twice, I reckon he’d have been neck and neck with his teammate but for the early incident…

  9. I didn’t see Horner in the RBR is he working secretly with the STR? I tip Jaime Alguersuari to Red Bull for 2013 after or if Webber leaves at the end of 2012.

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