Formula 1 returnee Daniil Kvyat praised Scuderia Toro Rosso‘s workload and progress over the course of 2019 winter testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Toro Rosso showed promising pace through Kvyat and rookie team-mate Alexander Albon, with Kvyat setting the fastest time on day three of the first week.
Kvyat ended the last day of testing in fifth place with a best time of a 1 minute 16.898 seconds, six-tenths away from the fastest lap of the fortnight set by Scuderia Ferrari‘s Sebastian Vettel.
The Russian also completed the third-highest total of laps on Friday with 131, four behind the day’s distance leader Carlos Sainz Jr. for the McLaren F1 Team.
Reflecting on the test, Kvyat said that Toro Rosso has every reason to be “satisfied” with its work.
“We’ve had quite a successful pre-season test,” said Kvyat.
“We were able to complete many laps, so I think we can be satisfied with the work put into these past two weeks.
“We did our homework between the two tests which is important, and that resulted in the car being comfortable to drive by the end of the second week.”
Returning to F1 after a one-year absence as Ferrari’s development driver, Kvyat explained that Toro Rosso was pleased with its pace on short and longer runs.
The team’s second year with Honda power has also brought promising early performance from a power unit perspective.
Kvyat recorded a total of 446 laps over the four days he spent in the new-for-2019 STR14 with minimal reliability worries, an aspect that Honda has placed emphasis on in order to impress in its first year with senior team Red Bull Racing.
“We tried some new bits and different setup approaches to see how the car would react as it’s testing, because trying this during a race weekend would be too risky and time consuming,” Kvyat added.
“We evaluated these items and found solutions to make the car as quick as it could be, so I would say we made the most out of winter testing.
“[On Friday] we did some short runs and qualifying simulations in the morning, while in the afternoon we moved to a race simulation.
“Both went quite well, so now we can focus our attention to the start of the season in Melbourne.”
