Buemi gained 15 places during the race and Alguersuari made it a double points finish for Toro Rosso.
| Sebastien Buemi | Jaime Alguersuari | |
| Qualifying position | 23 | 16 |
| Qualifying time comparison (Q1) | 1’24.070 (+0.785) | 1’23.285 |
| Race position | 8 | 10 |
| Laps | 69/70 | 69/70 |
| Pit stops | 3 | 3 |
Toro Rosso drivers’ lap times throughout the race (in seconds):
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | |
| Sebastien Buemi | 126.089 | 112.143 | 109.158 | 108.337 | 106.46 | 105.927 | 104.827 | 104.558 | 103.268 | 103.676 | 101.691 | 104.712 | 121.596 | 93.88 | 91.893 | 91.793 | 90.028 | 89.633 | 89.569 | 89.526 | 89.655 | 89.471 | 93.553 | 89.534 | 92.101 | 107.44 | 87.484 | 87.418 | 87.638 | 87.81 | 87.722 | 87.684 | 87.491 | 87.65 | 88.069 | 88.527 | 90.032 | 87.833 | 87.875 | 88.246 | 88.479 | 88.193 | 90.234 | 106.871 | 87.83 | 91.272 | 92.58 | 90.15 | 95.914 | 101.487 | 94.465 | 89.781 | 89.44 | 90.642 | 87.387 | 90.104 | 89.673 | 89.028 | 90.219 | 89.953 | 86.84 | 86.238 | 86.063 | 86.18 | 85.977 | 86.074 | 86.056 | 86.269 | 88.758 | |
| Jaime Alguersuari | 126.361 | 113.131 | 109.817 | 107.766 | 106.394 | 105.903 | 105.079 | 104.487 | 103.707 | 103.384 | 101.629 | 101.677 | 102.668 | 115.595 | 91.348 | 90.348 | 89.314 | 89.703 | 89.761 | 89.555 | 89.564 | 89.506 | 89.375 | 92.709 | 109.487 | 89.128 | 87.571 | 87.918 | 87.582 | 87.326 | 87.282 | 88.001 | 87.8 | 88.754 | 88.739 | 88.796 | 88.105 | 87.723 | 87.667 | 87.889 | 87.653 | 88.183 | 89.103 | 88.51 | 88.418 | 93.113 | 94.679 | 106.751 | 95.666 | 107.866 | 95.773 | 90.569 | 88.408 | 87.97 | 88.053 | 88.102 | 89.504 | 88.893 | 90.214 | 89.968 | 91.506 | 87.78 | 86.804 | 86.553 | 88.009 | 86.549 | 86.261 | 86.025 | 86.375 |
Sebastien Buemi
Carrying a five-place grid penalty for his collision with Nick Heidfeld in Germany, Buemi didn’t use the super-soft tyres in qualifying, guaranteeing his elimination in Q1.
From 23rd on the grid Buemi picked off five cars on the run to the first corner. He gained anoher four places over the rest of the lap to hold 14th place as lap two began.
He passed the two Williams drivers in the next two laps to claim 12th. But a late switch to slicks allowed Rubens Barrichello to claim the place back.
Alguersuari had 13th place off him on lap 16 but Buemi continued to move forward, passing Vitaly Petrov.
Unhappy with his car balance, Buemi made his third pit stop on lap 43 which included a front wing adjustment which he quickly felt the benefit of.
He swapped places with Paul di Resta, though the Force India driver came out on top. After the rain shower they found themselves queued up behind Kamui Kobayashi.
Buemi got down the inside of the Sauber on lap 61 to claim eighth place, where he finished.
Buemi said it was “a fantastic race, one of my best.”
“As it began to dry, I felt the set-up was not perfect and I had too much understeer.
I tried not to get upset about it and then the team did a very good job, working at the pit stop to change the wing angle which helped me to save the tyres better and the stop was quick enough for me to jump up a few places.
“When the rain returned, I again felt the car was working very well and I was able to run at a good pace again, which helped me get into the points.”
Sebastien Buemi 2011 form guide
Jaime Alguersuari
Continued to prioritise race set-up over qualifying performance in practice and lined up 16th on the grid.
Alguersuari lost out to his team mate at the start but passed Buemi after the first round of pit stops.
He made his final pit stop four laps later than Buemi, and fell back behind his team mate
As Buemi passed Kobayashi Alguersuari tried to follow him through but hit the Sauber and spun, falling behind Nico Rosberg.
Alguersuari eventually took Kobayashi and finished tenth, but felt he could have done better: “Today, it was clear in my mind that I could have finished seventh.
“I made one of my pit stops just as it began raining slightly again. With the tyres not yet up to temperature, at that point it was hard to stay on the track and I went off.
“But I carried on fighting and towards the end, it was unfortunate that I lost another place after the collision with Kobayashi, but as a team performance we can consider we did a good job today.”
Jaime Alguersuari 2011 form guide
2011 Hungarian Grand Prix
Image © Red Bull/Getty images
Ben Needham (@ben-n)
1st August 2011, 15:33
A very good performance again my both drivers… they seem to have very quiet races – nothing spectacular but always send to end up very high in the results. This has to be the best season Toro Rosso have had, they are consistently of points scoring potential now.
Marco
1st August 2011, 15:42
Not so quiet as it looks like… Buemi passed Petrov and Kobayashi, Alguersuari passed Buemi, Barrichello, Petrov and Kobayashi… Alguersuari was the faster one (after 2nd stop he was running 1,5 – 2 seconds faster then Di Resta ahead of him) and Buemi was the one with less mistakes… After the race Franz Tost and Giorgio Ascanelli were really impressed by Alguersuari s pace saying he drove his best race and the possible 7th place would be well deserved… It is all mentioned on his official website…
Fixy (@)
1st August 2011, 17:05
I think Buemi showed again he is a better driver by starting behind but finishing ahead of his team mate.
Marco
1st August 2011, 17:11
He only repeated what his teammate did earlier (Montreal)… – from pitlane to 8th…;)
Tom
1st August 2011, 17:13
Buemi just showed again that the two are evenly matched.
SVettel (@)
2nd August 2011, 10:17
I think that 2008 was a better season for Toro Rosso, what with their first ever win at Monza
Dan Thorn (@dan-thorn)
1st August 2011, 15:38
Buemi’s first few laps sound epic. I’d love to see an onboard of that!
Alfie
1st August 2011, 19:03
Definitely..also if you read that, coupled with the picture, you’d think he’d won the race!
Alfie
2nd August 2011, 13:19
Ooh, Keith, typo –
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
2nd August 2011, 13:11
You’re not the only one!
Eggry (@eggry)
1st August 2011, 16:07
Solid race from both driver. It’s good sign for the rest of the season.
The New Pope
1st August 2011, 16:08
I think Buemi deserves the Driver of the Race for this effort.
CarlitosF1
1st August 2011, 16:39
These two are having one of the best teammates duel of the year, no doubt.
Funny how they’ve been tagged as being equally mediocre in the recent past, because it’s become obvious over the past few races that if they’re closely matched in anything, that’s excellence. They’re beating Williamses, Saubers and whatnots, in a car that’s disastrous on saturdays and has some very serious flaws on race trim too (i.e. one of the most ineffective DRS systems, I’m quoting Alguersuari but aerial views of Hungary’s main straight made it obvious on sunday).
If Marko and co. are still determined to kick either of these guys out to make way for Ricciardo in 2012, then they have some food for thought over the coming months…
Marco
1st August 2011, 17:12
Agree…
TommyB (@tommyb89)
1st August 2011, 18:13
Couldn’t agree more. I was at Silverstone this year and those two guys were passing each other corner after corner. Each time they came passed a different one of them would be ahead.
It’s a really interesting fight this year, both drivers have really upped their game, especially Alguersuari.
Great drive from Buemi this race, probably one of the stars of the race. I’d love to see an onboard start of him going from 23rd to 14th in a lap!
Adam Tate (@adam-tate)
2nd August 2011, 0:19
Absolutely agree. These guys aren’t getting enough credit.
bosyber (@bosyber)
1st August 2011, 22:37
Fight for the midfield clearly heating up. The STR car misses qualifying pace, but the drivers are able to take it places in the race. It could well be that they are just being really good and the car isn’t.
M.M.C (@mmc)
2nd August 2011, 1:49
Fantastic showing from Buemi, and a nice way for STR to celebrate their 100th race by getting both cars in the points.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
2nd August 2011, 13:12
Great, great race for the STR boys. Alguersuari reminds me of Kobayashi with his approach and vice versa.
Alfie
2nd August 2011, 13:37
Missed a full stop..
Alfie
2nd August 2011, 13:38
It didn’t let me put my pedant hat on with tags..hmm..(sorry)
Marco
2nd August 2011, 14:11
Something interesting to compare: (ALG on soft tyres)
DIR ALG advantage
lap 37 1:28,933 1:28,105 – 0,828
lap 38 1:29,039 1:27,723 – 1,316
lap 39 1:29,525 1:27,667 – 1,858
lap 40 1:29,436 1:27,889 – 1,547
lap 41 1:29,706 1:27,653 – 2,053
So not only Ricciardo showed promising pace during a phase of a race… After finally overtaking Barrichello, Alguersuari was running only few tenths slower then Vettel, Button, Rosberg and Massa… The times can be found at fia.com… So, it is no surprise that Jaime was hailed after the race from Franz Tost and Giorgio Ascanelli for his incredible pace… Shame about the late rain, which ruined his effort to finish 7th… (at the time he was ahead of both DIR and BUE)
Lucas - Mr. Veloce of Britalia - Yours With Wings
3rd August 2011, 11:59
Keith, if Ricciardo is being groomed for a Toro Rosso 2012 seat, who do you think would be his team mate out of Buemi and Algueruari?
StrFerrari4Ever (@strferrari4ever)
3rd August 2011, 18:20
Gotta see that start from Seb it sounds like something you’d do on a video game.