The big news of the weekend, until Felipe Massa’s horrible incident, was the Scuderia Toro Ross driver Jaime Alguersuari’s first every F1 qualifying session. Is he too young? Does he have enough experience? Some are calling him Mr. Danger.
The young Spaniard showed well today and eventually retired with a throttle control problem to qualify 20th on the grid for tomorrows race. Understandable from a youngster who set a record as the youngest person to start a Grand Prix.
During qualifying, I found myself studying his lines and watching his car control. To be honest, he looked fine. The normal jerk here or there on the wheel but I found the young man poised in his attempts. Having said that, qualifying is a different beast than the heat of an actual race. We will see just how this young man fares when driving in anger with 19 other men infinitely more experienced than he.
Score card so far? An “A†for effort and a “C†for actual performance. Not bad for a first-ever start.
“Finishing qualifying with a failure is never good – I had a problem with the throttle control system – but we have to be content because I didn’t make any mistakes so far this weekend,” said Alguersuari.
“On my first two sets of tyres I did a good job. As for the race, I am really looking forward to it and I will be happy if I finish.”
