Q&A with Franz Tost

"I expect a successful 2016 season"

By Franck Drui

1 March 2016 - 11:16
Q&A with Franz Tost

Same drivers, but new car, new engine, new factory… What do you expect from the 2016 season?

I expect a successful 2016 season because we are much better prepared in many different ways than the years before. I’m convinced that the new car, the STR11, which has quite a successful predecessor, will be another big step forward. In addition to this, we are back together with our friends from Maranello, with Ferrari, and as the past has already proven, we will certainly have a fruitful partnership. I’m really looking forward to this new season with the Prancing Horse. As for the drivers, Carlos and Max are very high-skilled and they already performed well last year, learning very quickly. I can now expect that the experience they gained in their first season will help them make another step forward. The team itself has evolved as well. We have changed some positions in the attempt to improve further and I hope this will end up with positive consequences. I’m really optimistic about the season ahead. In addition to this, now that we have got a new factory, all the people are under one roof. This will surely make communication and collaboration easier, and I’m sure our performance will consequently benefit from it as well.

In what way did the late decision to have the Ferrari power unit affect the team?

The late decision will inevitably have a small effect on car performance, because if you have more time for the design stage, then you can possibly come up with better solutions. I’m quite optimistic and I see the STR11 as another step forward. The STR10 was quite a competitive car last year and I think that we can continue improving.

In 2015, the power unit we are using this year proved very reliable. Is this year’s
main aim for Toro Rosso to have a reliable car?

After the first test I must say that we have achieved all our goals. We were very much focussed on reliability and the fact that we managed to do 447 laps/2080 km - which is the maximum amount we have ever done in a test session – proves that our engineers have done a good job. To be able to complete 161 laps in a day without any major problems is a brilliant result, which makes me look forward to the new season.

Does the fact that part of the team is based in our wind tunnel facility in Bicester
(UK) make our team any less efficient?

In England we have a fantastic infrastructure with highly skilled engineers. Last year they even won an award for the most efficient race car and they do a fantastic job. If we were to move the wind tunnel to Italy, it would take a lot of time and to build it up takes even more time, and to calibrate it, even more… So we would lose a minimum one and a half seasons, maybe even more. That is one good reason to leave it in the UK. However, thanks to all the communication technologies available today, it’s not a problem to set up regular video conference meeting and work in a very efficient way.

What is a realistic target for Toro Rosso this year?

Realistically, I expect that we can achieve a podium this year after getting so close to it last year in Budapest and Austin, where Max finished fourth. I hope that the new car works well and is reliable and that the team and drivers do a good job. Therefore a podium position should be possible. The target for us this year is to finish fifth in the Constructor’s Championship.

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