Toro Rosso: Nothing wrong with the car

Editor

Giorgio Ascanelli insists there is nothing wrong with the “integrity” of Toro Rosso’s bodywork after part of Seb Buemi’s sidepod fell off in qualifying…

Giorgio Ascanelli insists there is nothing wrong with the “integrity” of Toro Rosso’s bodywork after part of Seb Buemi’s sidepod fell off in qualifying.

During Q1, part of the Swiss driver’s sidepod flew off his car, landing on the race-track. The incident resulted in the session being red-flagged for four minutes, allowing marshals onto the track to remove the debris.

The FIA’s technical director Jo Bauer immediately made his way down to the team’s garage where it was determined that it was a one-off incident.

“At the moment, I have no idea if the part was not properly fixed or an insert cracked,” Toro Rosso’s technical chief Ascanelli revealed.

“However, there was no question about the integrity of the components, which is why we refitted another sidepod and sent him out again.”

Buemi qualified P12 for the Malaysian GP while his team-mate Jaime Alguersuari was 13th quickest.