Formula One: Singapore Grand Prix – 1 race, 24 different reactions! (Part 5)
The feature moves on with views from the two Toro Rosso drivers and Virgin's Lucas di Grassi - cars that currently find themselves in the bottom end of the table.
Toro Rosso
Jamie Alguersuari was rather satisfied on finishing the race more than any other thing. Calling it one of the most boring races of his career, the Toro Rosso driver added how frustrating it was being stuck in traffic. With a car behind and
a car in front, he was acting like a mere link in the chain which left him with little to do. The Spanish driver conceded while being fair to the track and their performance, there was potential to bag some points for the team and himself after qualifying
11th on the grid. However, fate took over as the car was diagnosed with a leaked coolant which effectively meant starting the race from pit lane. The sight of seeing all 23 cars go past him while he waited with the Toro Rosso crew was extremely
denting which took away most of his optimism for the race. However, looking at the bright side, the Spaniard pointed out that he did pull off a total of three successful overtaking manoeuvres. Further focusing on the glass half full, the youngster believed
that Toro Rosso has evolved into a competitive race car. Its improvement could be seen by the fact that the driver started at the last spot and managed to bring the car home at 12thplace. It sure was an achievement in a Grand Prix, marred by 4 safety
car periods.
Sebastien Buemi, who didn’t have to start from pit lane unlike his teammate, had a tough race nonetheless. Having made a good, positive dash off the line, the driver had contact with Kobayashi's car on the opening lap. The driver highlighted that the damage
could have been more than cosmetically visible since from then on, he experienced a lot more under steer. Due to the car's lack of handling, Buemi was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop to change the wing along with the tyres. Making his way from pit lane,
the Toro Rosso driver found himself behind Renault's Petrov and spent more or less, the remainder of the race behind him. Sebastian's race was dictated again by his car's reliability problems as he had to dive back to the pits to pressurize the hydraulic system
and slap on a new set of rubber to go. However, this time, the stop and go actually left the car with a relative advantage which was now able to overtake his team mate and close in on Petrov to resume their duel. The pit stop afterwards saw the team experimenting
with the soft compound tyres which paid off as the Swiss was able to pile up some positive lap times. In the end, Sebastien Buemi was rather crestfallen for he believed that without the technical problems on the day, tenth place was more than a realistic target
for his Toro Rosso. However, he did believe that the car has improved a lot since March.
Virgin
Lucas di Grassi, despite finishing second last with respect to the cars that were able to finish the race, was more than happy to point out the positives. He deemed it as a 'very good overall result' - in line with his pre-determined target for Singapore.
While deciding to pit during the emergence of the safety car earlier on, the team could not pull off a déjà vu as the subsequent gamble made them lose a lot of time in the race. However, the Brazilian, from then on in, looked to finish the race in one piece.
Lucas di Grassi complimented the Virgin F1 as he was able to improve his lap times, the further the race went. Overall, he was happy with his contribution over the race weekend - He also finished in front of a 'certain' Lotus!
To be continued…
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