Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsToro Rosso

Verstappen keen to wait on podium target

Max Verstappen says Toro Rosso will know whether it should target a podium this season after the first three races.

Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost set the target of scoring a podium this year following the launch of the race livery for the STR11 in Barcelona. With the team using the 2015 power unit, Toro Rosso looks to have a competitive car but is wary its performance could drop off as this year's engines are developed.

Verstappen welcomes such high targets from his boss but says he will not know if it is a realistic aim until after the opening rounds.

“I think Franz in general is always very optimistic, which is good because it pushes the team forward," Verstappen said. "I’m a bit more cautious about podiums at the moment.

"I would like to, I mean I finished fourth twice so you want to get to the podium, but we have to see how good the package is and I think after three races we will know more.”

With James Key having delivered another competitive car, Verstappen says he has confidence in the technical director's ability to develop it through the year.

“The car improved a lot from 2014 onwards and I think I can be very happy about that. Definitely it’s great working together with him and he’s a very nice guy.

“I think it’s everywhere that it’s a bit of an improvement, but it’s tricky to say because of the conditions [in testing]. So it’s positive. Everything we’ve changed on the car is working in the right direction which we wanted. So that’s always nice.”

FEATURE: Race Zero - Barcelona to Melbourne via Milton Keynes

INTERVIEW: Max Verstappen: The man in demand

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

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.