Toro Rosso not ‘chasing lap times yet’ – Verstappen

Max Verstappen says Toro Rosso is “not chasing lap times yet”, adding that securing valuable mileage on the STR11 remains the team’s main goal at the moment.

The Red Bull junior outfit revealed its 2016 livery on Tuesday morning, with the car also sporting a few updates for the second and final pre-season test in Barcelona. With 144 laps under his belt, Verstappen was the busiest driver on track en route to clock the seventh fastest time in the standings.

“First of all, the car looks very nice, which is good to see,” the 18-year-old commented afterwards. “We did a lot of running today, so that’s always good. We did more than we planned for and that’s always positive.

“We are not chasing lap times yet. We are just discovering the car even more and getting the mileage up. I think it’s always very good to validate all the data you have.”

Last year’s Toro Rosso STR10 was considered as one of the best chassis on the grid but Verstappen and his team-mate Carlos Sainz often fell foul of poor reliability. The Dutchman is confident his team has achieved significant progress in that realm.

“The team knew [about the problems] and so far they have done a great job. The whole team and myself, we’ve improved and that’s always really good.

“We had a lot of issues so we try to learn from them and have a good start to the season.

“So far the package is working well. We try to learn more about it and get ready for the first few races.

“I am feeling confident in the car. I think that’s always important.”

Verstappen will hand over the STR11 to Sainz for Wednesday before returning behind the wheel for his final day in pre-season testing on Thursday.

REPORT: Mercedes starts to show pace on day one of final test

GALLERY: Second Barcelona Test

AS IT HAPPENED: Second 2016 pre-season F1 test from Barcelona

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter