Scuderia Toro Rosso‘s chief race engineer Jonathan Eddolls said his team had “quite an eventful race” at the Hungaroring last Sunday.
This race also marks the end of the first part of the Formula 1 season, with the on-track action getting back underway on 1 September at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
Eddolls praised rookie driver Alex Albon in particular, after he was able to finish in tenth and secure a point for the team.
His team-mate Daniil Kyvat finished in a lowly fifteenth and was passed late on by Kevin Magnussen and Daniel Ricciardo.
“We had quite an eventful race today with the team managing to score a point, which we are happy with. We think this was the maximum possible given where we started,” said Eddolls.
Eddolls said that things were made more difficult for both drivers by the circuit layout making overtaking a challenge, and the slow pace of the Haas F1 Team‘s Romain Grosjean in the opening stages.
“We think this was the maximum possible given where we started,” he continued.
“Both drivers lost some positions during the first lap which made our life more difficult, although a train quickly formed up behind Grosjean.”
Eddolls added that their pitstop strategy did not work as planned, meaning Kyvat was stuck behind the Racing Point F1 Team‘s Sergio Pérez for a large part of the race.
“Overtaking is tough here, especially when the cars are in a DRS train, so we decided to pit Daniil earlier in the race trying to undercut those cars ahead and stay in front of the Haas, who had pitted two laps before,” he explained.
“Unfortunately, we had a slow pitstop and we came out just behind.
“Daniil was soon able to overtake but then he spent the rest of the race behind Pérez, finding it impossible to pass him.
“He was managing the tyres for a part of the stint but, after trying to attack Pérez for tenth at the end, they simply ran out of life.”
Eddolls said that in contrast, strategy calls were more effective on Albon’s side of the garage.
“We stayed out longer with Alex in the first stint to try to cover all eventualities and, although he came out behind Daniil after his stop, his fresher tyres allowed him to attack towards the end and pass Pérez for tenth.”
Eddolls concluded that the team was pleased to retain its fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship at the midpoint of the season, and plans to come back and continue to fight for points after the summer break.
“We head into the summer break maintaining our fifth position in the Championship, which is a great achievement for the team,” Eddolls added.
“I want to thank the whole team in Faenza, Bicester, Honda and the drivers for their dedication and hard work in the first half of the season – enjoy the two weeks break to find new energy and come back after the shutdown ready to continue the fight!”
