Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsToro Rosso

Toro Rosso set for major aerodynamic update

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Toro Rosso technical director James Key says the team is set to add a major aerodynamic update at this week’s final test.

The first two tests saw consistent running for the STR10, with Carlos Sainz Jr and Max Verstappen completing over 400 laps between them last week at the Circuit de Catalunya. With this week’s test also taking place at the same circuit, Key told F1i that Toro Rosso’s lap times have not yet been representative of its potential with a major upgrade to be added at the final test.

”This week, when the car drives out of the garage, that’s when we really start looking at where we’re going to be,” Key said.

“We’re not setting big lap times. There’s two reasons for that - a) there’s a lot of work to do with the drivers and the mechanical side of the car and the tyres. All the stuff we couldn’t do last year with difficult winter testing we want to make sure we tackle really thoroughly this year.

“Secondly, the car we launched, as we said at the time, is effectively an interim car. Mechanically, it’s by and large what we’ll race in Melbourne. There’s a few changes to come. But aerodynamically, it’s nothing like what we’ll turn out this week. That’s when all the performance stuff comes. That’s the other reason we’re not looking at lap times.”

James Key was talking to Eric Silbermann

The full driver line-ups for the final test

Click here for the gallery from day four of the second test

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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.