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Vettel puts Toro Rosso on pole at Monza

September 13th, 2008 at 09:37pm Under Racing

Red Bull teams nearly locked out the front two rows of the grid for the Italian Grand Prix, as Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel became Formula One’s youngest-ever polesitter in appalling weather conditions at Monza on Saturday.

It began to rain heavily with 15 minutes to go before the start of qualifying, and after the McLarens of Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton set the pace in Q1, 21 year-old Vettel took over in Q2.

That session proved to be Hamilton’s undoing. After an exploratory run on inappropriate standard wet tyres - extreme-wets were the way to go throughout the hour - he just didn’t get his McLaren up to speed and ended it 15th on 1m 39.265s. He was not alone, however. A spin prevented BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica from bettering 1m 36.697s which left him 11th and the first to fall, and behind Force India’s Giancarlo Fisichella (1m 36.698s) and Red Bull’s David Coulthard (1m 37.284s), Kimi Raikkonen languished 14th on 1m 37.522s for Ferrari.

Vettel made no mistakes in Q3, consistently outrunning his competition, even though corners such as Ascari were so wet that aquaplaning caught out many. The German pushed his STR3 round in 1m 37.555s, and though Kovalainen managed 1m 37.632s, it was not enough.

Behind them, Mark Webber’s final lap for Red Bull jumped him up to third on 1m 38.117s, pushing Red Bull stablemate Sebastien Bourdais down a place to fourth in the second Toro Rosso, on 1m 38.445s. The Frenchman was lucky to get away with a spin exiting Ascari.

Reflecting the highly unusual nature of this grid, Nico Rosberg was fifth for Williams on 1m 38.767s, ahead of Felipe Massa’s Ferrari, in which the Brazilian could not better 1m 38.894s.

The Toyotas of Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock sandwiched Fernando Alonso’s Renault, the Italian lapping in 1m 39.152s, the Spaniard in 1m 39.751s and the German 1m 39.787s. Nick Heidfeld, who spun in Q1, completed the top 10 with 1m 39.906s for BMW Sauber.

Behind Kubica, Fisichella, Coulthard, Raikkonen and Hamilton, Rubens Barrichello was 16th for Honda on 1m 36.510s ahead of Renault’s Nelson Piquet (1m 36.630s), Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima (1m 36.653s), Honda’s Jenson Button (1m 37.006s) and Force India’s Adrian Sutil (1m 37.417s).

With more rain possible for Sunday, a fantastic race is in prospect as Vettel and co seek to capitalise on their performances, as Kubica, Raikkonen and Hamilton do everything they can to overcome their tribulations.

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Buemi and Sato to test for Toro Rosso

September 2nd, 2008 at 08:55pm Under Racing

GP2 driver Sebastien Buemi and former Super Aguri racer Takuma Sato are to test for Toro Rosso at a multi-team test session later this month, as the Italian squad continue to ponder their 2009 line-up. Buemi and Sato will be in action behind the wheel of the STR3 at the Spanish circuit of Jerez following the Italian Grand Prix.

“The time has come to try and find a suitable replacement for Sebastian Vettel, who is joining Red Bull Racing next year,” explained Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost. “The Jerez test, the last one of the season, will give us an opportunity to evaluate Buemi and Sato at the same time, as they are both possible candidates for a 2009 seat.

“Buemi is an obvious candidate, because not only is he already part of the Red Bull family, he is currently performing well in the GP2 series. As for Sato, he has proved worthy of a place in Formula One and would be a good fit with the Red Bull spirit, while his recent F1 experience would be undoubtedly valuable to our team.”

Nineteen year-old Buemi has advanced through the Red Bull junior driver programme and is test and reserve driver for Toro Rosso’s sister team Red Bull Racing. The Swiss driver is currently lying fifth in the GP2 championship and has four GP2 victories to his name.

Sato, meanwhile, is Japan’s most successful racing driver. The 31 year-old has competed in 91 Grands Prix, his best result being a third place finish at the 2004 United States Grand Prix. Sato first made the headlines when he won the hotly contested British Formula Three championship in 2001, before joining the Jordan Formula One team the following year. Three years with BAR Honda followed that, before he joined Super Aguri in 2006. He stayed with the team until it pulled out of the sport after this year’s Spanish race.

“I am delighted to be given this opportunity to get back behind the wheel of a Formula One car, after my season was cut short following the Spanish Grand Prix,” added Sato. “It will be especially interesting working with a team that has made so much progress over the course of the year.”

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