07.10.2007 FIRST POINTS OF THE YEAR FOR FERRARI-POWERED TORO ROSSO

As Ferrari celebrated the milestone of 200 grand prix wins, in fact half of the eight points scorers today in Shanghai were powered by Ferrari engines, as the Faenza, Italy-based Scuderia Toro Rosso outfit claimed its first points of the year with a fourth and sixth place finish. Coupled to the podium finishes for Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa, this meant that Ferrari engines took 1-3-4-6 place in the Chinese Grand Prix.

Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel put the heartache of Fuji firmly behind him in Shanghai on Sunday. Vettel enjoyed a sterling drive, making up 13 places in a drizzly Chinese Grand Prix to finish fourth - the team's best result to date. After receiving a five-place grid penalty for blocking Renault’s Heikki Kovalainen during Saturday’s qualifying, the 20 year-old started down in 17th, but an excellent start saw quickly move up to 11th in the opening laps. As it had done in Japan, before Vettel's collision with Red Bull’s Mark Webber, the STR02 proved to have a great deal of pace in damp conditions. Vettel's race was also helped by the team’s clever one-stop strategy, which allowed the young German to get the better of several two-stopping cars.

Thus Toro Rosso got their first official points of the season, and a strong drive from Vettel’s team mate Tonio Liuzzi, who early on ran fourth on merit, saw the two-stopping Italian finish sixth. Unfortunately for him, his strategy didn’t work so well when the conditions changed, and he struggled with tyre graining all through the race.

Sebastian Vettel: “P4! A Fantastic race. In the beginning it was quite difficult, starting in the mid field. For a couple of metres the visibility was okay and then you got all the spray. After the start, I used my momentum to go round the outside of several cars. Even though it was really slippery I took the risk. I kept pushing as hard as I could. After I passed Kovalainen I had a clear track ahead of me and was able to push harder. Just as I changed to dry tyres the rain came, but fortunately it went away quickly.
 

SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO STR-02

Sebastian Vettel put the heartache of Fuji firmly behind him in Shanghai on Sunday. Vettel enjoyed a sterling drive, making up 13 places in a drizzly Chinese Grand Prix to finish fourth - the team's best result to date.

SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO STR-02

As Ferrari celebrated 200 grand prix wins, in fact half of the points scorers today in Shanghai used Ferrari engines as the Toro Rosso team claimed its first points of the year with fourth and sixth place.


"I fought with Jenson, but when we realised he was on a two stopper, I didn’t worry. The last 20 laps were unbelievable and even though I had the situation under control and slowed the pace, it was tough. A fantastic day for the whole team, especially with Tonio in P6. Yesterday I wasn’t happy with my grid penalty but today I got my revenge on the track. Finish fourth is fantastic. When I left the factory in Italy, the guys said ‘Sebastian, you must bring back some points’ and I said I’d try. In Fuji we got close and today came this great result. Now I will celebrate with the team who did a great job in the pit stops and with the strategy.”

Tonio Liuzzi: “This was a great race from start to finish with everything going perfectly. I think Sebastian’s one stop strategy was better but that does not matter now. It is fantastic for the team that we both scored points. I made no mistakes and had some great fights with Williams, Renault and BMW. I don’t think we could have done more than this. I am really happy for the team who really deserve these points. Many times this year, we have shown that we were capable of scoring points, but somehow we never got them. Now everyone can be happy and it shows that the team is growing and that all the guys are doing a great job. Now we can go to Brazil in a really positive frame of mind after showing what we can do, both here and in Fuji last week. We deserve this result.”

Gerhard Berger: “A very good result thanks to a fantastic effort from the team and both drivers. We have been working very very hard and sometimes this year we have been a bit unlucky. Today it all came together. This team works so hard. It is competitive and fights hard with limited resources, but still doing an outstanding job. The immediate future? To go to Sao Paulo and try and get more points.
 

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