Toro Rosso’s technical director James Key says the first 2017 Formula 1 pre-season test was “encouraging but frustrating”.
The team suffered an engine problem on Thursday, which caused Daniil Kvyat to complete just one lap of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Sporting a striking new livery, the new STR12 enjoyed smoother running earlier in the week and Key is confident Toro Rosso can make up the track time lost.
“Unfortunately, Daniil only did an out/in lap,” he said. “We then suffered an engine related stoppage which lasted for the rest of the day.
“The week has been both encouraging but also frustrating with the missed running time. However, we will now plan our recovery for next week and hope to make up for lost ground,”
Team boss Franz Tost added a lot of data was lost, but he has heard promising feedback when the car was running on track: “We arrived in Barcelona at the start of the week with a wonderful new livery and we were quite excited to start the new season.
“We were hoping to have completed many more laps than what we’ve actually done during this first pre-season test. Unfortunately, we couldn’t complete our programme because of some reliability issues.
“Therefore, we are missing some data, especially regarding the softer tyres. Having said that, when the car has been out on track we’ve got a very promising feedback, so we just need to keep working hard with our partner to sort out all the reliability issues.
“All in all, it’s been a bit of a bumpy ride to begin with, but we are confident that we will get everything under control next week during the second test in order to be ready for the first race of the season in Australia.”
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