Spain 2019 - GP preview - Toro Rosso

Daniil Kvyat

“Barcelona is a circuit that everyone knows quite well, but that doesn’t mean it’s an easy track in terms of driving and finding the right setup on the car. It’s quite a challenge to put together a really good lap here. I’m interested to see how our car will perform.

“It’s true we went well here in pre-season testing, but this does not mean we’ll have less challenges. I hope we can have a weekend where everything comes together for us, running competitively in all sessions and the race. So far this year, sometimes we have been strong in Quali and other times we have been strong in the race, so we just need a weekend where everything clicks.

The track can be frustrating, because just a slight change in wind direction or temperature can have a big impact on how the car behaves from one session to the next. That’s why you really need to be on top of your game, because with everyone knowing Barcelona so well, the gaps between the drivers and teams will be very small…even smaller! Every part of our performance has to be perfect. The challenge here comes from the fact there are all sorts of corners and naturally the car has to perform well in all of them.

Everyone will be bringing some sort of update for this race and in our case, I hope it will work as expected and bring us a good performance gain. We will just work race by race and see where we are going to be.”

Alex Albon

“Of the whole Formula 1 calendar, Barcelona is the track I’ve raced on the most in various categories. It’s a popular race venue in the junior formulas. Last year, in F2, I qualified on pole and it’s a track I enjoyed.

“Also, I have the experience of this year’s winter testing, which will be a big help. I am looking forward to seeing how different it feels from February to now. At that first test, I really didn’t know what to expect. Going on with our rolling development plan, we’re bringing a few updates on the car to this race as well and I’m really excited about that – our aim is to be consistently in the top ten! We were strong in Barcelona during the winter test, so I hope we can keep that momentum.

“In Baku we had an update from Honda, which seemed to make a difference in race trim, so I am keen to see how that helps our performance in Spain. The midfield will still be very tight and it’s going to be a very interesting weekend. Plus, it will be nice to have some races in Europe now, with less travelling time to home. I think I’ve been at home for five days since the start of the season!”