Pitlane and mechanical problems put paid to any chance of good results for Toro Rosso drivers Jaime Alguersuari and Sébastien Buemi at a troubled Singapore Grand Prix in which both were eventually forced to retire.
Both drivers had qualified well with Buemi 14th and his team-mate in 17th and in the early stages the Spanish rookie had climbed to 14th. But in his first stop Alguersuari erred badly, pulling away before signaled to do so by the lollipop man and damaging the fuel rig.
That meant that when Buemi came to his second stop no fuel went into the Swiss driver’s car, forcing him to stop again and drop down the order, after running as high as 12th.
Those weren’t the only problems and late in the race both drivers were ordered to return to the garage to retire with mechanical difficulties.
“The start was good for me as I got past Kimi and was going well, but towards the end of the first run, I began to suffer with tyre degradation,” said Buemi afterwards. “The first pit stop went well and I rejoined in P12. After that the Safety Car came out, bunching up the field. I was behind Kimi again and pushing hard until my second pit stop, when we had a big problem as no fuel went in and I had to come in again. Finally, I had an issue with the gearbox which meant I had to stop. I am very disappointed that we had reliability problems in a race where we might have got a good result.”
Alguersuari too had his own mechanical difficulties, brakes problems ending his race after 47 laps.
“It would have been difficult for me to do better today, as conditions in the race in terms of the track and the heat were very tough. I ran at my own pace and then I was stopped with a brake problem. Now we go to Suzuka where I hope to do better and finish the race with no technical issues.”
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