Pre-season testing did not go quite as planned for Scuderia Toro Rosso, who took the honour of completing the least amount of laps of any of the F1 teams, at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona this week.
Daniil Kvyat was due to get behind the wheel of the STR12 on Thursday, but after completing just two installation laps, a Renault engine failure halted his running for the remainder of the day, as Technical Director James Key explained.
“Unfortunately Daniil only did an out/in lap this morning. We then suffered an engine related stoppage which lasted for the rest of the day.
“The week has been both encouraging but also frustrating with the missed running time. However we will now plan our recovery for next week and hope to make up for lost ground!”
The team was also forced to stop early with engine problems when Carlos Sainz Jr was driving on day three, and throughout the week the Faenza based squad have suffered from reliability niggles that have never really allowed them to complete a fully productive day.
Team Principal Franz Tost was disappointed to have suffered these early setbacks, as it has left them missing valuable track time, but is equally confident that the team will be able to sort the issues out prior to the start of the new season.
“We arrived in Barcelona at the start of the week with a wonderful new livery and we were quite excited to start the new season. We were hoping to have completed many more laps than what we’ve actually done during this first pre-season test.
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t complete our programme because of some reliability issues. Therefore, we are missing some data, especially regarding the softer tyres.
“Having said that, when the car has been out on track we’ve got a very promising feedback, so we just need to keep working hard with our partner to sort out all the reliability issues.
“Both Carlos and Daniil have got to grips quickly with the STR12 and are gaining confidence rapidly. Their impressions have also been generally quite positive.
“All in all, it’s been a bit of a bumpy ride to begin with, but we are confident that we will get everything under control next week during the second test in order to be ready for the first race of the season in Australia.”
