Buemi notes lower grip levels

Sébastien Buemi has noted that a difference can be felt in this year's cars after just a short number of laps. The Swiss driver is in the cockpit of the brand-new Toro Rosso on Monday and Tuesday this week before handing over to team-mate Jaime Alguersuari for the final day of the 3-day Valencia test. With the new car having been launched on Monday morning, Buemi was out on-track just minutes later although a gearbox problem around lunch time hampered running. "When you drive, you are aware the car is a bit longer and the new tires do not respond in the same way to the previous ones," the Swiss driver explained. "With the narrower front tires, it does feel as though there is a bit less grip from them."

With Toro Rosso hoping to see the car back out on-track for approximately ten minutes before the session draws to a close at 5pm (GMT +1), Buemi knows that the Faenza team has a tough job ahead of it as it designs its own car for the first time.

We chose to have the car ready for the first test, while some teams prefer to have more wind tunnel time and sacrifice some testing," Sébastien continued, referring to the likes of sister squad Red Bull Racing. "As a team with a lot of new people working on the car in the factory, it was important to get as much track time as we could and also for the race team to learn to work together on the track."

The 21-year-old also mentioned that 7-time World Champion Michael Schumacher will be treated equally: "Out of the car, it's a really good thing for the sport; in the car, he will be just another driver I will be trying to beat." GPUpdate