Carlos Sainz believes Toro Rosso will have to perform straight out of the box in early 2016, and make the most out of its first races.
The Faenza squad switches from Renault to Ferrari power next season, but with a year-old engine likely to remain unchanged, lack of in-season development could hinder Toro Rosso's progress in the second part of the year.
"This is the main thing, that probably the first half of the season will be the most important for us, when we need to maximise what we have," Sainz told Motorsport.com.
"The second half will be a bit more difficult, obviously. Especially after looking at this year, there was a lot of in-season development. Also we noticed with Renault that we had the same power for the full season.
"Toro Rosso at the beginning of the season was up there, and then little by little we went backwards. So it will be all about maximising the first half, I think."
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