Team principal Franz Tost admitted he was disappointed at losing to Sauber:
“At the start of the season, we set ourselves the target of finishing at least eighth in the constructors’ championship and that is where we have finished, 36 points ahead of those in ninth place.
“However, having come so close to challenging for seventh place when we picked up a significant number of points in Korea and India, we cannot be happy with missing out on overtaking the team ahead of us, failing to score in the last two races.”
| Sebastien Buemi | Jaime Alguersuari | |
| Qualifying position | 14 | 13 |
| Qualifying time comparison (Q2) | 1’13.919 (+0.115) | 1’13.804 |
| Race position | 12 | 11 |
| Laps | 70/71 | 70/71 |
| Pit stops | 2 | 2 |
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 | 71 | |
| Sebastien Buemi | 90.636 | 82.091 | 81.275 | 80.276 | 80.082 | 79.878 | 79.878 | 79.619 | 79.742 | 79.981 | 79.915 | 80.005 | 80.038 | 79.871 | 79.848 | 79.876 | 79.861 | 79.902 | 83.913 | 95.335 | 79.094 | 79.267 | 79.242 | 78.6 | 78.863 | 78.641 | 78.505 | 78.765 | 78.79 | 79.168 | 78.668 | 78.785 | 78.588 | 78.511 | 78.972 | 78.904 | 79.285 | 79.093 | 78.53 | 78.815 | 79.25 | 84.373 | 94.876 | 78.336 | 78.054 | 78.607 | 78.954 | 78.323 | 79.487 | 80.339 | 79.802 | 79.245 | 78.464 | 77.932 | 78.104 | 77.997 | 77.669 | 77.665 | 77.428 | 79.328 | 78.693 | 77.826 | 78.156 | 77.66 | 77.507 | 77.788 | 78.117 | 78.835 | 78.226 | 78.735 | |
| Jaime Alguersuari | 92.318 | 81.63 | 80.59 | 81.011 | 80.048 | 79.865 | 79.978 | 79.944 | 79.596 | 80.328 | 80.262 | 80.23 | 80.016 | 79.829 | 79.789 | 79.572 | 79.823 | 79.887 | 80.582 | 81.041 | 84.22 | 95.128 | 78.653 | 78.411 | 78.683 | 78.409 | 78.322 | 78.84 | 78.703 | 78.523 | 78.424 | 78.357 | 78.548 | 78.506 | 78.697 | 79.251 | 78.582 | 78.838 | 78.625 | 78.445 | 78.745 | 78.697 | 78.507 | 78.54 | 78.707 | 78.863 | 79.226 | 83.774 | 93.694 | 78.128 | 77.981 | 77.613 | 77.537 | 77.552 | 77.162 | 77.324 | 77.596 | 77.716 | 78.232 | 77.788 | 78.011 | 77.359 | 77.793 | 77.515 | 78.592 | 78.044 | 77.666 | 77.777 | 77.733 | 79.165 |
Sebastien Buemi
| Start tyre | Soft |
| Pit stop 1 | Soft 22.417s |
| Pit stop 2 | Medium 22.461s |
“We did not have a good preparation for qualifying,” lamented Buemi. “I was unable to run in the morning.”
“Added to the fact I did not drive in FP1, because Jean-Eric [Vergne] was in my car on Friday morning, I’ve really had very few laps so far this weekend. We must learn from these mistakes to ensure we don’t make them again.”
Buemi started one place behind his team mate and finished there after an uneventful race.
Sebastien Buemi 2011 form guide
Jaime Alguersuari
| Start tyre | Soft |
| Pit stop 1 | Soft 22.773s |
| Pit stop 2 | Medium 21.855s |
Alguersuari headed an all-Toro Rosso row seven. But the pair were unable to keep Kamui Kobayashi behind, costing Toro Rosso a chance of seventh in the constructors’ championship:
“This was a difficult race right from the start,” he said, blaming: “low grip in the first stint on the softer tyre, especially in terms of traction and at the exit to slow corners. I was struggling a lot to follow Buemi and Perez.
“The second stint on the harder tyre was much better, but it’s hard to understand in general why we seem to have lost performance in the last two races.”
Jaime Alguersuari 2011 form guide
Jean-Eric Vergne
Drove Buemi’s car in first practice.
2011 Brazilian Grand Prix
Image © Red Bull/Getty images
smifaye (@)
28th November 2011, 12:45
Well he drives for Toro Rosso who are notorious for allowing drivers a chance on a Friday which is great practice for those drivers. Buemi needs to be able to deal with that and not use it as an excuse. It is probably a mainstay of F1 for the lower teams that someone will be in your car during first practice because of the lack of testing.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
28th November 2011, 15:06
@smifaye yeah, but with Toro Rosso in a fierce battle against Sauber, maybe it wasn’t the clever thing to do. Why did they need to put Vergne in the car in THIS race?
seems a bit bad timed. But I guess they were paid to do it, so…
smifaye (@)
28th November 2011, 15:16
@fer-no65 true they were, but we all dislike drivers excuses. Other drivers managed just fine without the Friday practice. They should probably time it better but maybe the fact Vergne was in the car is a sign that Buemi is on the way out. But that discussion is for another day and another page ;)
Fixy (@)
28th November 2011, 21:06
Just behind Jaime, but I think Seb won’t retain his seat next season.
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
29th November 2011, 2:01
The team should be happy for their performance, both the drivers did a great job. I think for 2012 they should have Alguersuari alone with Ricardo in the team.
bosyber (@bosyber)
29th November 2011, 12:22
In a way I’m sorry for the team, but mostly for the drivers, that they lost out on seventh, though I also think Sauber deserve it too, having picked up from a slump two thirds into the season.
The tightness of the fight between STR,Sauber, FI, and even Renault (and in some races, the tail end Williams, and head of the midfield Mercedes) this year was one of the things to look forward to every race again.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
29th November 2011, 13:43
A bit of a disappointing last couple of races for them. Everything looked great in Korea.
While I do appreciate STR are very much a development team, if they’re going to set themselves targets and evaluate drivers, they need to give maximum track time when it matters; when there are points at stake.
I have absolutely no idea on what’s going to happen with them for next season. I would like them to retain at least one current driver though.