Scuderia Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost has tried to draw the positives from a difficult Brazilian Grand Prix weekend that saw the team plagued with reliability issues amidst ongoing rows with engine supplier Renault.
Both drivers, Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley, continued to suffer with woeful reliability and a plethora of grid penalties which saw both cars start from the back row of the grid at Interlagos.
Despite the issues, Tost believes it to have been a fairly positive race in terms of Gasly’s pace, while Hartley was pulled out of the race following higher than usual oil consumption.
“From the very beginning of the weekend we suffered a lot of problems as we missed the first practice session, and both of our cars had to start from the back of the grid on Sunday due to penalties,” said Tost.
“The race was quite positive for us as Pierre closed the gap to the cars in front and showed a good performance. Unfortunately, we had to call in Brendon because of a high oil consumption which we need to investigate and which unfortunately didn’t enable him to finish the race.”
With just one race remaining in 2017 Toro Rosso are sixth in the constructors’ championship, just four points clear of the Renault Sport F1 Team and a further four ahead of the Haas F1 Team, a situation that hasn’t escaped Tost.
“Now, we are looking forward to the last race in Abu Dhabi, where we can hopefully successfully defend our sixth position in the Constructors’ Championship.”
