Franz Tost praised Carlos Sainz Jr after the Spaniard drove strongly in tricky conditions during the Brazilian Grand Prix to finish sixth and claim eight points for Scuderia Toro Rosso.
The Team Principal of the Faenza-based team admitted the team were lucky that the weather played into their favour with Sainz, especially after qualifying down in fifteenth position.
Tost believed team-mate Daniil Kvyat would have been higher than thirteenth but for his early clash with Jolyon Palmer – of which he was blameless as the Renault Sport Formula 1 Team was unsighted in the spray – with the damage meaning he was fighting from behind with a damaged car.
“Taking into consideration our pace from yesterday’s qualifying session, I must say that we were very lucky and the rain really helped us today,” said Tost. “Carlos drove a good race – to finish P6 and take home 8 points here in Sao Paulo is a great result!
“Daniil on the other hand was involved in an incident with Palmer, where he destroyed the front part of his diffuser. This had a big impact aerodynamically – he lost more than 20 points of downforce to be precise – and therefore he couldn’t do more.
“The team did a good job throughout the whole weekend and this will certainly give us a boost to face the last round of this Championship in Abu Dhabi.”
