Formula One news

Vettel struggles in Toro Rosso debut

Scuderia Toro Rosso's new driver Sebastian Vettel struggled on his debut qualifying down in 19th while Tonio Liuzzi ended the day sixteenth.

"I think that in common with a lot of other people, we are finding that the soft tyres are struggling a lot to finish more than half the lap in good condition," said Liuzzi. "So it is always a gamble to get to the end of the lap in good shape. I made it to the last place in Q2 and that was pretty much the maximum target I could have, as there was a big gap to the car in front. I am still remaining optimistic for the race. It will be a tough race, especially from a tyre point of view and so I am expecting an interesting race." 

Sebastian Vettel commented, "I suppose it might not have been realistic to expect much more as the time I have had to get used to the car and the team has been quite short. Taking that into consideration, I think we have done quite a good job so far. The car was in good shape and we made a step forward with it since this morning. But I am not satisfied with this afternoon, as I made a mistake in the final sector on a quick lap. It was completely my mistake and I think my car was good enough to make it through to Qualifying 2. I hope I have a better afternoon tomorrow."
Third Practice Session
Best lap 1.22.394, pos. 19

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