Qualifying report

Toro Rosso maintain presence on top-10 start grid at Silverstone

Jean-Eric Vergne: "... I am not exactly sure what was the reason: maybe I was too close to Vettel in front of me, but I felt I lost downforce and then just went straight on."

Daniel Ricciardo (Q3, 1:30.757, pos. 6th): “Coming off the back of a bad couple of races, I expected to be strong here and I was more motivated than ever. However, if I’d been told I could be sixth this afternoon, I would have been surprised. We were very close to Di Resta in fifth, but we can be happy with this position.

Daniel Ricciardo, Scuderia Toro Rosso STR8

Photo by: XPB Images

We showed good pace all weekend, including this morning when I was sixth, so it was nice to confirm that this afternoon. Now I am looking forward to the race when I hope I can come away with a good handful of points. I’d like to think I could finish at least in the same place I am starting from.

It would be nice to do even better and I will be pushing hard to achieve that. I believe it will be a few degrees warmer tomorrow, which could make the track conditions change quite a lot. This is a very demanding circuit with lots of high speed corners, so the tyres don’t get much of a rest, therefore tyre wear will be an important factor tomorrow.”

Jean-Eric Vergne (Q2: 1:31.785, pos. 13th): “I made a mistake on my quick lap in Q2 and that’s the plain fact and I’m very upset about it, as it lost me the chance to get into Q3 which was definitely possible. As to what happened when I got it wrong, I am not exactly sure what was the reason: maybe I was too close to Vettel in front of me, but I felt I lost downforce and then just went straight on.

Anyway, I am not looking for excuses. The car was working well, as it has done all weekend, so now I must make up for it in the race tomorrow. Looking at Daniel’s performance this afternoon, it’s a good sign as it shows the car is quick and we will have something to work with tomorrow afternoon. I think it’s still feasible to have a good race tomorrow and to bring home points.

James Key: “It’s good to have got through to Q3 with one car here. We’ve been reasonably on the pace right from the start of the weekend, even if neither driver has been completely happy with the balance of the car. However that did not stop them from setting what we consider a competitive lap time.

We were not sure what to expect at Silverstone, as it’s such a different track to the last three venues, especially to Monaco and Montreal. We did a lot of work to ensure we had the car in its sweet-spot for here and that paid off.

Daniel did a fantastic job to get to Q3 and then to P6 completely on merit, while it was a great shame for Jev, who had matched Daniel’s pace all weekend but just did not get the maximum out of his Q2 lap.

Overall, it shows that the steps forward we are making on the performance front are working consistently and a two car points finish is a realistic target tomorrow.”