British GP: Toro Rosso Saturday qualifying notes

Comments from the Toro Rosso team after qualifying for the British Grand Prix

Scott Speed:

"Our pace was similar to what we had in Magny-Cours. When it comes time for everyone to go for a qualifying lap, me and Tonio have a bit less in hand. Maybe it's because we push one another in practice, so we are getting the most out of the car then, without keeping anything in reserve for qualifying. Fifteen and sixteen is not bad, but we need to find a couple more tenths to really be fighting in the middle of the pack."

Tonio Liuzzi:

"At the end, the gearbox would not accept any downshifts and we will have to find out why. At the start of the week, I did not expect to be in Q2, but we did a lot of work yesterday night and this morning it was clear the car was improved with a big step forward in terms of balance. We were still struggling a bit with understeer in qualifying though, which cost me time in Turn 5. I also had some traffic in my second run in Q2 and then the gearbox problem."

Giorgio Ascanelli, technical director:

"I thought it would be difficult to get into Q2 and fifteenth and sixteenth is about what I hoped we could achieve. Scott did a great job this afternoon and he was on it. As I said before, the pack is very close in terms of lap times and we have to be happy with this performance."

"Unfortunately, we had a gearbox problem with Tonio, which at the moment I assume is different from anything we have seen so far. Therefore we will have to analyse it now and I am sure it will be fixed for tomorrow."

Scott Speed
Chassis: STR2-04
1:20.515, 15th

Tonio Liuzzi
Chassis: STR2-03
1:20.823, 16th

-credit: toro rosso