F1 / Bahrain: Toro Rosso at both extremes

Si Daniel Ricciardo impressed after an anonymous race of Toro Rosso in China, the real surprise comes from the difference in performance separating the Australian sixth on the grid from Jean-Eric Vergne, 19th in the session (18th tomorrow with Pastor Maldonado's penalty). The former HRT driver seems to have found the set-up suitable for the developments made on the STR7. “I am very happy with this result. We had an average speed in China with the developments. We persisted in this direction and they finally seem to work better here, thanks to the team. I was satisfied with my driving and I improved with each session. This allows me to approach the race with confidence, I will try to score as many points as possible tomorrow. »

The day is obviously less satisfactory for the Frenchman who will have a hard time achieving a top ten starting from this far back on the grid. The most worrying thing for the new recruit of the Italian team is that he cannot explain this poor performance against his teammate. “I don't understand why I was so slow this afternoon, especially after the car worked well this morning as can be seen with Dani?s impressive performance. Congratulations to him », declared Jean-Eric Vergne. “I'm going to work with the engineers to understand why I couldn't ride at this pace. The heat on the track was up three degrees this afternoon but I don't think that had any impact. I already started from the back of the grid before having a good race. With the potential of the car, this is what I plan to do again tomorrow. »