Franz Tost feels Scuderia AlphaTauri are in a good position heading into the new season after completing three hundred and eighty-four laps across the three days of the first pre-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Tost, the Team Principal of the Faenza-based squad, witnessed both Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly exceed one hundred laps on each of the first two days of the test in Spain, while between the two they completed one hundred and twenty-two on day three as driving time was shared.
A lot was learned about the new AT01 across all three days, although Tost admits there is still work to be done on the final set-up ahead of the first race of the season in Australia next month, although they have another three days to work on that coming next week in Spain.
“We had three very fruitful test days here in Barcelona, completing more than 100 laps every day – 384 in total – and learned a lot about the car, but we still have to work on the final setup,” said Tost. “However, I think we are going in the right direction which is a good sign.
“It’s a pity we lost some track time today due to a little issue toward the end of the day, but we got a good understanding of the new aerodynamics on the car. We also ran a few long runs which meant we could get a clearer picture of tyre wear and degradation.
“The engineers now have a lot of data to analyse to come back well-prepared next week for the second test. In general, I must say that Scuderia AlphaTauri seems to be in a good position for the upcoming year.”
