Jody Egginton says Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix was not one of Scuderia Toro Rosso’s best days as Alexander Albon and Daniil Kvyat finished fifteenth and seventeenth respectively at the Red Bull Ring.
Both drivers started towards the back of the grid after dramas in Qualifying for Kvyat and engine change grid penalties for Albon, and Egginton, the Technical Director at Toro Rosso, said early progress was made difficult due to the need to manage the temperatures of the brakes and power unit.
“Qualifying out of position made today’s race very difficult,” said Egginton. “The drivers pushed as hard as possible early on whilst also having to manage brakes and PU temperatures, which slowed down any progress.”
Whilst Albon was able to show better pace once free of traffic, it wasn’t as straightforward for Kvyat as he suffered with damage to a rear brake duct, meaning his progress was limited, and ultimately Egginton wants to put the weekend in Austria behind them and focus on improving the performance of the STR14’s ahead of the British Grand Prix later this month.
“Once traffic was cleared, Alex was able to run some reasonable lap times and closed in on the pack ahead, but ultimately, there was some time lost either side of the pitstop which limited the progress we could have had,” said Egginton. “Once Dany got free of traffic, he still had to manage his tyres due to some rear brake duct damage and therefore, he wasn’t able to make any progress.
“Today definitely wasn’t one of our best days and we have a lot of analysis to do ahead of the next race to improve on the weaknesses shown here. We will be focused on this, aiming to come back stronger in the next event.”
Team Principal Franz Tost said there was not much to say about Toro Rosso’s race day in Austria, but he congratulated sister team Red Bull Racing, with former Toro Rosso driver Max Verstappen giving Honda their first victory in Formula 1 since 2006 after a spirited drive through the field.
“First, I’d like to congratulate Honda, Red Bull Racing and a great Max Verstappen for this fantastic victory here at the Red Bull Ring,” said Tost. “They have done a terrific job in Sakura to achieve this result and the team did an amazing job.
“As for Toro Rosso, there is not much to say. We did not perform well today.”
