Franz Tost remains optimistic that Scuderia Toro Rosso can finish the Constructors’ Standings in fifth for the 2016 Formula 1 season.
Currently the Italian-based outfit are in sixth with a total of 45 points, behind Sahara Force India who have 81 points, however even with this big difference, Tost believes Toro Rosso can achieve enough points to finish this season ahead of Force India and in fifth.
Currently Toro Rosso have the 2015-spec Ferrari engine after experiencing a difficult period with Renault. It has been thought that Toro Rosso will struggle more as the season continues, as their power unit becomes more and more outdated, but even with the year old engine, Tost believes the team can still challenge Force India for fifth place, with the team close to achieving good results .
“The second half of the season will not be easy for us in Monza and Spa, because of the performance of the power unit,” Tost told Motorsport.com.
“But Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, America and Abu Dhabi should be quite good. Sao Paulo is in between, it depends also on which weather is over there. But you need a lot of power there as well. I’m still optimistic that we can finish in fifth place in the constructors championship.
“I know that now Force India is ahead of us, but the potential of the car is on a very high level, the drivers are doing a good job. I hope that also hope the team will do a good job. We just need one, two really good results to finish in the first five. And we are close to that. The possibility is there.”