This Thursday just gone was the longest day of the year, a fact which the locals celebrated by rushing to the beautiful beach that stretches for miles down the coast, just outside the Formula 1 paddock.
For the Scuderia Toro Rosso crew, this entire weekend seems to be a very long one, as we have struggled to make the STR7 competitive round the mean streets of Valencia. We have not qualified as low as seventeenth and eighteenth overall since the third round of the championship in Shanghai and on a track where overtaking, even with the miracle aids of KERS and DRS, is not so easy, Daniel Ricciardo and Jean Eric Vergne will have to fight very hard for all 57 laps and hope for some luck in the form of misfortune for others, to help their cause.
Although they share the ninth row, the Australian did actually make it through to Q2, however when it became clear that he would not be able to improve his lap time by enough to significantly change his grid position, the decision was taken not to send him for a second run, thus ensuring he has more fresh rubber for the race. Obviously, Jean-Eric is in a similar position as his afternoon stopped at the end of Q1. In the extremely hot conditions, new tyres could be a big help tomorrow and, without giving away too much about race strategy, it’s pretty clear most cars will use three sets of tyres tomorrow.
We had a special guest in our garage this afternoon, as legendary Brazilian football ace, Roberto Carlos. Best known for his playing days with Real Madrid where he stayed for eleven years, he is now sporting director for a Russian premier league club.
Back on track, Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull took pole for the third time this season and he shares the front row with Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren. Row 2 features drivers who have definitely created a stir so far this year: in third place is the Williams of Pastor Maldonaldo with Romain Grosjean next to him in the Lotus. Row three sees the Frenchman’s team-mate, Kimi Raikkonen fifth, with the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg sixth.
Mean streets of Valencia
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Mean streets of Valencia