Carlos Sainz Jr finished the last day of testing with 132 laps and a best time of 1:19.837, placing him third on the day’s time sheet. The Spaniard was 1.2 seconds slower than pace-setting Kimi Raikkonen.
In total Scuderia Toro Rosso has completed 584 laps during the eight days of testing, far from an ideal total but one they will nonetheless have to work with.
Despite the issues they have faced, today was a productive day for the team as they managed to complete their full programme.
“What a great feeling to end pre-season testing with such a good day!” he said. “I’m very happy with the lap time and with the number of laps completed – managing to cover a full run plan was exactly what we needed before going to Melbourne!”
Over the eight days the team has gathered a lot of data that will now be analysed back at the factory in preparation for the season opener, now only two weeks away. And by the sounds of it, they are feeling optimistic about their chances.
“We can now be a lot more positive about the season that’s about to start,” he added. “It’s been a tough couple of weeks for the whole team, with problems here and there, but today we finally managed to put a very good day together and we’re definitely ready to race… Let’s do this!”
