Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsToro Rosso

Toro Rosso 'not a full car yet'

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Carlos Sainz says the Toro Rosso STR11 being run during the first pre-season test is "not a full car yet".

Toro Rosso was tight for time when developing its new car after a late switch from Renault to Ferrari power at the end of 2015. As a result, the car is running in a dark blue testing livery with the team having not had time to prepare its 2016 livery before the start of the first test.

Sainz completed an impressive 161 laps on the third day of testing and says reliability has been the only focus until performance is added at the second test.

“This car is a mix between a lot of parts all together," Sainz said. "So it is not a compact car, let’s say it is not a full car yet. So we are not looking at the lap performance, I don’t even know the lap time or what position I finished today. I didn’t even see the compounds the others are using, nobody in the team did really.

"So we will see. Hopefully we can give a bit more of a taste next week when we have all the parts together, we have the full STR11 together and we see how it handles.”

With Toro Rosso set to introduce its full car next week, Sainz says the current spec feels very close to last year's chassis in terms of performance.

“If I would have to say something now it feels like last year, the car. Very similar. I don't feel like any performance yet but that’s because it hasn’t arrived so I will tell you a bit more how it feels next week when I evaluate all the new parts that are coming that will fit together to make a full STR11. At the moment it’s an STR10 with parts of STR11 and parts coming from nowhere just for this test."

REPORT: Hulkenberg heads Grosjean on third day of test

Follow live coverage and timing from pre-season testing here

GALLERY: Pre-season testing day three

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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.