Toro Rosso team principl Franz Tost says he’s so far been impressed by both Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne’s performances.
The duo started well with Ricciardo taking two points from his first race and Vergne finishing eighth in Malaysia to secure four, but they’re both yet to score again which has out the Italian outfit someway behind its rivals.
Tost though is happy with how things are going.
“So far I must say that both of them are highly skilled and both of them, so far, have shown good performance,” he told the official F1 website. “The progress that both are making is quite promising, so I have to say that so far we are satisfied.”
However by this time last season, the pairing of Jamie Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi had scored 18 points compared to the teams six, but Tost blames that on the cars competitiveness.
“We had possibilities, we had chances, but we didn’t seize them,” he added. “For example Daniel started from P6 in Bahrain and couldn’t profit from it, and Jean-Eric was in P7 ten laps before the chequered flag in Monaco but finished 12th.
“We have definitely not taken a step backwards but our competitors are working better. Maybe we have gained two or three-tenths of a second, but the others have gained maybe four or five-tenths.”
The Austrian is hoping for a better second half of the season though.
“Both now have a bit more experience, they know the team better, the car better and the weekend procedure, so now I think it is up to us, the team, to provide them with a good car and make a step forward with new upgrades. Then I am convinced that we – hopefully – will have a successful second half of the season.”
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