Jaime Alguersuari says he doesn’t mind the speculation the he or team mate Sebastien Buemi might be replaced before the end of the year.
Toro Rosso have been running Daniel Ricciardo in Friday practice sessions and the Australian driver is widely tipped for a race seat.
In an interview on the Toro Rosso website Alguersuari said: “We have another driver in the team who is fast and very talented.
“No one in the team is wanting me or Sebastien to go slower or Daniel to go faster, and that’s why I don’t really mind the situation.
“What is important is that we have another viewpoint in the garage. Daniel is very important for the team because he has been working with a winning team – Red Bull Racing – last year; he knows how their teams works and how our team works and he can compare the garages, the set-up and the car, which means we get good data. He’s part of the family too; we’ve all come through the same Red Bull driver programme, so in the end it can only be good for us.”
Alguersuari said the change from Bridgestone to Pirelli tyres was a challenge the team were still trying to get to grips with: “For the moment we are still working on our one-lap performance.
“When you get to the point where you have a car that doesn’t understeer or oversteer, then you can do some amazing lap times – but I’m not there yet.
"We have made improvements, but in general we still need to work to get that last bit we had at the end of 2010. We need to keep on working on the set-up of the car, to understand temperatures and tyres and tyre degradation and so on.
“Eventually there will be a point – I don’t know when or where, but hopefully it will come sooner rather than later – where we can extract the maximum performance from the car.
“It’s not easy, because so many things have changed in F1 over the winter.
“Last year you would, for example, change a front spring and know what the effect of that change would be. This year you make the same change, but the car acts in a different way; maybe a way you weren’t expecting.
“It means maybe you miss two or three tenths of performance that maybe your team-mate got. And all you can do to get past that is watch, learn, gain the experience and hopefully get better.”
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Image © Red Bull/Getty images
RIISE (@riise)
26th April 2011, 21:33
It’s Buemi who should be worried. Jaime is going nowhere, he is the perfect image for Red Bull and is still improving as a driver. I see a bright future for him.
mike77 (@mike77)
26th April 2011, 21:43
I agree. Alguersuari is only 21 yrs old – a great prospect for the future and can only get better and better. Although Buemi is talented, I just think that Ricciardo is a better talent than him. I don’t think that they will be replaced mid-season, though.
f1fanboy
27th April 2011, 11:08
Buemi is only 22 lol
slr
26th April 2011, 21:46
Alguersuari was improving during the back end of last year, but he hasn’t done anything this year. Buemi impressed in Australia and looked good in Malaysia before his penalty.
I personally don’t see either driver being replaced, Toro Rosso could do much worse than Buemi and Alguersuari. I don’t see what Ricciardo could add to the team.
Todfod (@todfod)
27th April 2011, 7:12
To be honest, both drivers haven’t improved all that much. I think Buemi is marginally better, but Alguersuari has a marketability factor.
Fixy (@)
27th April 2011, 15:05
Buemi is constantly beating Alguersuari, both are young and both need to be worried. Buemi is just one year older and has half a season of experience more than his team mate, therefore they will be judged only on performance.
Pink Pirelli
26th April 2011, 22:02
I’d be worried if I was either of the STR drivers, although I think Buemi has more to worry about than Alguersuari. STR has form with replacing drivers mid term, and it also has from in blaming the drivers for the cars faults. ATM, I’d have to have an each way bet that the current line up will change by the end of the season.
MagillaGorilla
27th April 2011, 0:14
I doubt they’d do that. The car will never improve if they drop both driver and replace them. It would be good to have a full season with the drivers again and have their input into next years car. Cause the dual floor system isn’t working out and I think that’s what may be hurting these two driving. A mid season or 3/4 season change would be stupid on STRs part that’s if they ever plan to get out of mid-field.
dyslexicbunny
27th April 2011, 15:08
I really don’t think they care at all. I see Toro Rosso as always a minor league team. If they want Ricciardo in a seat, they’ll do it to get him ready for Red Bull. I don’t see the other two going there at any point.
BasCB (@bascb)
27th April 2011, 18:33
Hard to say what really makes STR tick these days. Certainly not too many expect these guys to land a RBR seat anytime soon.
And building good cars makes sense only for a team with actual ambitions on track.
Rather they just wait for a buyer with a vision for the team to come along.
Bigbadderboom
28th April 2011, 16:48
Good point, there mission does seem diluted recently, not sure what their aim is now, does Red Bull need them as a feeder team? probably not. I think your right BasCB, just waiting for things to improve and sell up, they don’t seem to have serious on track ambitions.
US_Peter (@us_peter)
26th April 2011, 22:17
It’ll be interesting to see what happens their over the season.
Oliver
26th April 2011, 22:20
I guess it’s musical chairs season again at STR.
The team itself isn’t sure what role it is playing in F1.
Is it another step in the Redbull driver acedemy, hence a proving ground to feed drivers into Redbull. Or is it an independent team striving to be competitive in the championship, with the ultimate goal of winning the driver or constructor championship.
If they are a team to be taken seriously, they had better start looking for serious drivers, not the ones who tend to forget what event they are participating in mid race. That is assuming they are allowed to be a team with ambition.
butterdori (@butterdori)
26th April 2011, 23:03
Being funded by Red Bull means that they’re not necessarily desperate for results
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
26th April 2011, 23:31
STR is quite a strategic move from Mateschitz. Better to have a potential competitor on a leash than taking points off you. If he didn’t own STR somebody else would.
GeorgeTuk (@georgetuk)
27th April 2011, 10:16
There has been rumours he is trying to off load the team now as its not really what they wanted since the technology and sharing they envisioned has been banned.
Would be a good buy for someone I reckon!
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
28th April 2011, 8:09
They probably would be a good investment. They rarely excite me so it would be good to see someone exploit that potential.
butterdori (@butterdori)
26th April 2011, 22:37
Both Buemi and Alg should be on their toes, having trouble sleeping.
I’ve seen nothing that suggest either of them have potential.
Max
26th April 2011, 23:45
Buemi has way more to worry about than Alguersauri. You never want to see anyone replaced but I would like to see this Ricciardo in a car
Mitch
27th April 2011, 1:00
I think ultimately despite the fact both the TR guys perform decently currently, Marko is very interested in setting Ricciardo up as a Webber replacement and to do that he needs experience in a non-Red Bull car.
Brad
27th April 2011, 2:02
If not this year, Ricciardo will be in a TR next year without doubt. Moving onto Red Bull the year after. Go the Aussie.
Tyson Evans (@bobtehblob)
28th April 2011, 7:44
I can’t agree more. I would not be suprised at all to see him jump from Torro Rosso, to Red Bull taking webber’s seat. It makes sense, at this point in time Webber is miles behind vettel and you never know :)
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
27th April 2011, 2:58
I do like this team which have already put maximum pressure to their drivers to perform well in every race as both of them know there is always someone waiting on the bench to be substituted.
dragon
27th April 2011, 3:06
They should never have gotten rid of Bourdais! :D
Jeffrey Powell
27th April 2011, 8:36
Good joke!
GeorgeTuk (@georgetuk)
27th April 2011, 10:17
It was strange how good he was at Indy and then nowhere in F1. Still F1 I think is more technical where many transferring drivers fall down.
jess
28th April 2011, 1:19
I agree 100%.
KateM (@katem)
27th April 2011, 9:33
I’d be worried if I was either of the STR guys . Both have had long enough to prove themselves and frankly I haven’t really seen anything to suggest that either would be a better option than Webber so surely its only a matter of time before Marko gives someone else a shot to prove themselves. Even if Webber isn’t at Red Bull next year, I wouldn’t be surprised if he is replaced by a non-Red Bull driver while Ricciardo is given his chance to prove himself at STR.
I’m always surprised about how Alguersuari is always rated as having more potential than Buemi – he’s only a year younger and has only half a year’s less F1 experience, its not exactly a deal breaking difference. I think the two are pretty closely matched with Buemi looking slightly better this year. But I don’t rate either as much more than competent to be honest.
Todfod (@todfod)
27th April 2011, 11:39
I couldn’t have said it better myself. Everyone keeps harping on how Alguersuari has significantly less experience than Buemi, and how he can develop much further. When the fact of the matter is that he has 10 races or so less experience than Buemi, and is just over a year younger than him. If he had the talent to beat his teammate he would have done it by now. Just look at how DiResta has come in to the sport, and in three races, has shown that he can beat his teammate.
Dave Blanc
27th April 2011, 13:20
Here here. I think both drivers should be looking over their shoulder to be honest. I think Ricciardo is more talented to both so i hope we see him in a race soon.
katederby (@katederby)
27th April 2011, 17:04
With STR’s history I can see them replacing both drivers this year or at the end of the season, if either they don’t perform or Franz Tost falls out with them.
Neusalz (@dpod)
28th April 2011, 0:45
I must say that I am a bit puzzled at the amount of people claiming that Buemi should be the one worried. It seems that Buemi has the upper hand in performance and I dont see how the marketing factor is more valuable.