Fantuzzi : The new rules have an impact on our garage set-up

Gianfranco Fantuzzi, Toro Rosso Team manager

"Regulations for 2010 state that each team is allowed 45 trackside operatives: this figure excludes the team principal, the drivers, doctors and physios, marketing and PR people and catering crew. In addition every team can bring staff involved in the cleaning and maintenance of the support vehicles and the logistics staff are also outside this number, on the understanding they cannot touch the race cars, get involved with pit stops, or carry out the role of tyre spotter. Our total team at the track will be around 58 people, a reduction of 12 compared to 2009."

"This rule has an impact on our garage set-up. The main requirement is for mechanics and we wanted to stick with four per car, consequently we have halved the number of ’truckies’. We therefore expect that set-up and pull-down will take longer and with this in mind, we have modified our garage set-up to make it simpler to work on as we will have less people. For example, at the flyaway races, everyone including the engineers will have to help pack up so that we can meet our schedules. The engineers will have to get their hands dirty on Sunday night! In fact, the number of people we have will leave us with just one spare person to cover the race pit stop requirements. The engineering team has been left basically intact, with a minimum reduction to their numbers. Backing up the on-track engineering team, we have created a Race Room at the factory, where additional engineers can be connected in real time to the race track to support the race team."

"Another interesting rule change concerns Parc Ferme, in that the cars will now stay in the team garage, although the period of time the cars are in Parc Ferme conditions remains the same. The cars will have a cover, approved and sealed by the FIA and the garages will be monitored by CCTV linked to the FIA system."

"In Qualifying, the cars will run low fuel throughout all three sectors, but refuelling will still take place in pit lane outside the garage, using the normal fuel pump allowed by the rules. With more teams taking part this year, the garage allocation will be done more fairly, with all teams having the same amount of space for their pit stops, whereas in the past, the teams higher up the previous year’s championship order had more space than those lower down."