Franz Tost was pleased that the strong pace shown by Scuderia Toro Rosso was rewarded with ten points in Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix, with both Daniil Kvyat and Alexander Albon finishing inside the top eight.
Toro Rosso saw both drivers start inside the top ten for the first time in 2019, with Kvyat in eighth and Albon in tenth, the latter making his first appearance in the top ten shootout of his Formula 1 career.
On Sunday, Kvyat secured his best result for Toro Rosso in seventh, with Albon following him home closely in eighth, giving the team their best points haul of the season so far, something that satisfied team principal Tost.
“From the beginning of the weekend onwards, Toro Rosso showed a strong performance here in Monaco,” said Tost. “We qualified in P8 and P10 and ended the race in seventh and eighth position.
“I must say we are very satisfied to finish such an important and difficult race inside the top 10.”
Tost said the team made good strategy calls during the race at the Circuit de Monaco, with neither driver pitting behind the early safety car, a decision that ultimately gave them the chance to leapfrog a number of drivers who did, including Daniel Ricciardo and Kevin Magnussen, who were running fifth and sixth in the early laps.
“The start of the race was ok, the drivers had a good first lap,” added Tost. “After that, the main goal was to save the tyres, not to overshoot and suffer from graining. Both Dany and Alex managed to do this in a very professional way.
“The strategy was good, first because we stayed out when the SC (safety car) was deployed, then to call both drivers in at the perfect time and keep [Romain] Grosjean behind us.”
Tost was also pleased that sister outfit Red Bull Racing also scored points with both drivers, with Max Verstappen taking fourth ahead of Pierre Gasly. The result ensured that for the first time in 2019, all four Honda-powered drivers were able to score top ten finishes.
“These are ten important points for us, so congratulations to the drivers and to the team for a good and competitive weekend, I am really satisfied to see four Honda-powered cars within the first eight at the end of the race,” he said.
“Now let’s get ready for Canada, where we hope to continue scoring points.”
