Ascanelli : a new challenge for Toro Rosso

Giorgio Ascanelli, Toro Rosso Technical director

"At the end of last year, we had already increased our staff to around 150 and now we have 200. At the end of March 2009, we got the green light as to what actually constituted being an F1 Constructor. That was the starting point for building up our operation in such a way that we could design a car that was achievable in engineering terms, working in a different way to the methods we had adopted in the past."

"Being recognised as a Constructor involves owning the intellectual property rights to what are defined as the listed parts: these are effectively the monocoque, the safety structures that are subject to homologation and crash testing, which means the rear and front structures, primary and secondary roll-over structures and the complete aerodynamic package as well as the suspension, fuel and cooling systems."

"Before even thinking about producing a car, we had to acquire the right tools to carry out these tasks and also hire the people who will use these structures. Finding 50 people and putting them in an environment where they can do their job has been a tough task. As for the challenge we face this season, to quote Mao Tse-Tung: ’we should not be talking about what we will do when we have crossed the river, we must first get the bridges and ships with which to cross the river.’ We have started by building those bridges and ships."

"We are not quite there yet and, at this stage, getting everyone to work together in a productive fashion is our most important task. We have effectively increased our design strength by a factor of six. It has been a massive task. Fortunately, we were able to benefit from the misfortune of others and with some teams leaving Formula One; there were plenty of good people in the marketplace, which simplified our job. We have also recruited talented youngsters straight from university."

"The shape of the chassis was defined, based more on common sense than on the study of data. This was because our new wind tunnel only started producing results around November 2009. If we had waited for this data before defining our chassis, we would not have had one in time for the start of the season."

"The transfer of information between the design group in Italy, the CFD department, also in Italy, and the wind tunnel in England has taken time to organise efficiently, especially taking into account the ’Babel Effect’ of the difference in language, which should not be underestimated. I would compare it in athletics terms to us having to run a 100-metre hurdles race, while more established teams are sprinting on the flat! Nevertheless, we made good progress and we were able to roll out the car, as planned, for the first day of the first test session."