Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost wants to ensure Carlos Sainz can show his full potential in 2016.
Sainz was part of an all-rookie line-up at Toro Rosso last season alongside Max Verstappen, but it was the latter who grabbed the headlines with a number of exciting performances and strong results. Sainz finished the year 31 points behind his team-mate but Tost feels the Spaniard was unlucky with retirements and wasn't able to show what he is capable of.
“Most of the time he suffered with reliability issues that were the fault of the team, not his," Tost told F1i's Eric Silbermann. "Carlos had a very good season last year, showing a strong performance, which was especially clear if you look at the qualifying comparison between the two drivers.
“I expect him to have a good 2016 and I just hope we can provide him with a reliable car, which allows him to show his potential. The team has to improve its performance and produce better race results than last year, as we have to step forward. Last year our main problems came from reliability and we must work on that for this season, no excuses!”
Sainz failed to finish seven of the 19 races last year, including four consecutive retirements due to reliability problems in the middle of the year.
2016 will see Toro Rosso switch from Renault to Ferrari power units, though the team will use a year-old specification of engine.
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