Sebastien Buemi had a troublesome day. He had an engine misfire in the first session which turned from bad to worse in the second session. He also beached his Toro Rosso at the end first session in the gravel trap. At the end of the day he only did 23 laps. He explained: "I had a misfire from early on in the morning session, but we continued to run anyway. Then in the afternoon it got worse and the mechanics had to strip down the car to trace the cause of it, so I could not run in FP2."

Buemi explained: "In the morning session, I was able to evaluate the experimental Soft compound tyres that Pirelli supplied us here. However, despite the lack of laps, I still believe we can move forward tomorrow, when there is also a chance the weather could be different with the threat of rain. So, overnight we have to fix the car then decide on what set-up to run if it is wet and despite today's difficulties, I still believe we can have a competitive weekend."