Sébastien Bourdais led the way as
Scuderia Toro Rosso achieved its second double top ten qualifying result in succession – and second of the 2008
Formula 1 season – at Spa-Francorchamps this weekend, as the Frenchman increasingly gets to grips with life in the top flight.
Indeed, the four-time Champ Car Champion – under pressure to hang onto his seat at the
Red Bull junior squad next year – was audibly overjoyed to have seen his name shoot right to the top of the timing screens at the close of Q1, as he sensationally out-paced the likes of
Heikki Kovalainen,
Felipe Massa,
Lewis Hamilton et al to storm to P1 in the order.
Another strong performance in Q2 saw Bourdais ease through to the top ten shoot-out for only the second time during his rookie campaign in the uppermost echelon, and from there he would go on to out-qualify team-mate
Sebastian Vettel for ninth place – the young German planning on running a long first stint in the race – as the ‘two Sebs' prepare to line up alongside each other on the fifth row of the starting grid on race day.
“A qualifying session when I can get out of the car and say that I drove well and that the team, as usual, did a good job,” enthused 29-year-old Bourdais. “The car worked well, even if we couldn't mix it too much with those ahead of us; let's see what strategies the others are on in terms of fuel loads tomorrow. A couple of tenths is all that separated us from sixth or seventh.
“It's beginning to come together, and it's been a good weekend so far. I feel this track and its corners suit me better. It was nice to see my name at the top of a timesheet in Q1 – it's been a long time!”
“I'm quite happy and we can be satisfied to get both cars in Q3, which we did not expect at this track,” added Vettel of his fifth top ten qualifying appearance of the season, despite having trailed his team-mate in each of the three parts of the session. “It was a strong qualifying performance. I was struggling a bit in those sections where the driver doesn't have to do much; I could not find the pace my team-mate had.
