WorldMags.net
G A RY A N D E R S O N ' S
TEAM BY TEAM
“The car doesn’t have anything
particularly trick on it, but it looks like a
good package that should be consistent”
Toro Rosso-Renault STR10
A
62 AUTOSPORT.COM MARCH 5 2015
Rookies Verstappen and
Sainz will need reliability
MAX VERSTAPPEN
33
17
Age:
Starts:
0
First GP:
Best finish:
–
Best qualifying position: –
Fastest laps:
–
Championship position:
-
CARLOS SAINZ JR
55
Age:
20
Starts:
0
First GP:
Best finish:
–
Best qualifying position: –
Fastest laps:
–
Championship position:
-
WorldMags.net
COATES/LAT
ll the indications are that Toro Rosso
has done a very sensible job with its
2015 car. It’s always difficult to be the
smaller team, the second team, like
Toro Rosso is, but there’s real ambition
here and it’s moving away from being
under the Red Bull umbrella. Its aim
of finishing fifth in the constructors’
championship is not going to be easy to achieve
given that it’s one of the smaller teams out there,
but there’s nothing wrong with being ambitious.
Some will question Toro Rosso taking a pair
of rookie drivers, but I think it's a great situation
to be in provided you have the correct structure
in the team to support them and they are very
talented, as Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz
are. It’s a bit like when I had Ralf Schumacher
and Giancarlo Fisichella at Jordan in 1997,
which didn’t work out badly at all!
I worked with James Key, who is now technical
director at Toro Rosso, when he was at Jordan
and he knows what he’s doing. He has experience
with Force India and Sauber in similar roles, and
showed he was able to tackle problems when he
put his foot down over reliability issues during
2014; sorting the reliability problems made a
big difference to the finishing rate.
The car itself doesn’t have anything
particularly trick on it, but it looks like a good
package that should perform consistently. But
delivering regularly has been a problem for Toro
Rosso in recent years, as sometimes you see the
cars up there in the top 10 on the grid, while on
other days it’s a battle to get out of Q1.
If Toro Rosso can improve on that and deliver
consistency, then it could do better than last
year’s seventh in the constructors’ championship.
XPB IMAGES
SEASON
62
PREVIEW
Starts: 166
First GP: Bahrain 2006
Wins: 1
Poles: 1
Fastest laps: 0
2014 championship position: 7th
BLOXHAM/LAT
Toro Rosso
STR’s car looks like a
simple but effective tool
Key hopes to unlock
more-consistent form
There have been lots of complaints
about how young Max is, but I’ve
always been much happier with a raw,
young, talented driver than an old hasbeen with no motivation in the car. He
drove very well in a strong European F3
grid last year, and looked comfortable
in his Friday outings last season, so I’m
going to enjoy seeing how he gets on.
Sainz is clearly a decent driver, as you
don’t win the Renault 3.5 title without
having a bit about you. He only got
this opportunity after Daniil Kvyat was
promoted to Red Bull, so he has a
bit to prove. But Red Bull has clearly
seen something in him. Having come
so close to missing out on F1, he will
be desperate to make the most of it.