Monaco GP - Toro Rosso Ferrari - PracticeSebastien Bourdais and Sebastian Vettel today spent the three hours of free practice getting used to the new STR3 chassis that is being used for the first time in a Grand Prix weekend. Bourdais set an encouraging 13th best time in
the morning and then 18th in the afternoon. Vettel struggled as he adapted to the new car with the 19th and then 20th fastest time.
Sebastien Bourdais
“This morning when I woke up, I thought, ‘this is it, I’m finally going to drive Monaco in an F1 car!’ It was a case of finding out about the new car which was always going to be difficult on this demanding track. We always ran with a heavy fuel load so we should not read anything into the lap times. We are not where we want to be but I don’t think we are as far behind as it might look. However, I was expecting us to be in slightly better shape than this, which means Saturday and Sunday are going to be interesting. We are lacking a bit of grip, maybe because we lack a little downforce in this maximum downforce set-up, which our top speeds would also suggest.
At least my past experience here has been a help and this morning I got into a rhythm quite quickly.”
Sebastian Vettel
“Certainly not the best first two sessions of a race weekend. It is the first time we have had the new car at a race, so it was always going to be difficult to know what to expect and I seemed to struggle a lot. I was fighting with the car on a circuit that I have always liked in the past. I have nothing against street circuits; quite the opposite in fact. We were struggling to find the right direction to go in, but by the end of the second session we made a step forward but it is not yet enough.”
Toro Rosso
