Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsToro Rosso

Toro Rosso too late to run 2016 livery

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Toro Rosso will take part in the first test with a plan blue car because it is too far behind schedule to prepare its race livery.

The STR11 has been delayed due to the late confirmation of Toro Rosso's switch from Renault to a year-old Ferrari power unit this season. The change in engine supplier was only confirmed at the end of 2015 and team principal Franz Tost admits the car will have to run in a basic livery before a full presentation ahead of the second test.

"It will be a blue car," Tost is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com. "We will [present the car officially] on the 29th [of February] because we are so late with everything.

"We want to make a proper paint job as well, so we will present the car only then in Barcelona."

However, Tost says he has no concerns over the late completion of the car, which was scheduled to fire up for the first time on Monday.

"In F1 you have always two problems. You run out of time and you run out of timing. That is always the same. It is nothing new this year.

"Nevertheless, because of the late decision of what [engine] we were running this season everything got a little bit late, but our people did a fantastic job.

"The car is nearly ready. I think we will have the fire-up [on Monday] and we absolutely on schedule. Therefore I am not worried for the first test in Barcelona."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.