STR14 - Toro Rosso reveals 2019 challenger
- Farhan Khurram
- Feb 11, 2019
- 3 min read
This was a live event. The article was updated as the event progressed.
Toro Rosso on Monday, pulled the covers off its 2019 challenger, the STR14. The team was anticipated to introduce a new darker livery, after the team released pictures of its drivers donning the new racing overalls, but regardless of that, the livery is still the same as the last two years.
Toro Rosso had earlier announced on January 25th via social media, that the team will be unveiling its new car on 11th of the following month. Williams is also set to launch its car today.
Franz Tost, the team Principal of Toro Rosso said that: "The aim is to always improve in order to compete at the highest possible level and this winter we have worked intensively to bring a few organisational changes, which we hope will help smooth a few issues we experienced in the past.
"We have analysed all the internal procedures in order to optimise our strengths and minimise our weaknesses.
"Compared to other teams, Toro Rosso count on a smaller number of people, but the synergies with Red Bull Technology for the non-listed parts,"
"Now that Red Bull will also be equipped with the Honda engine, will leave more time for our technical working groups to focus more on the details." he said.
The Italian squad fired up the Honda engine for the first time just two days ago. Honda is said to have made massive gains in engine performance, but reliability is doubtful as it will only be established in Barcelona, as to how good the new engine is.
Tost further added to his statement saying that: "Attention to detail makes the difference and this translates to more performance."
"We have very good technical people to follow the in-house design, and the reliability of last year's synergy project parts will put us in a more favourable situation to develop quicker during the season"
The Faenza based team joined forced with Honda for an engine supply beginning from 2018. Given that Toro Rosso is a sister team of Red Bull Racing, the latter wasted no time in striking a similar power units supply deal with the Japanese manufacturer for 2019 and beyond. Honda was earlier partnered with McLaren for three years, but the relationship ended in shambles, with McLaren making an inevitable switch to Renault.
Toro Rosso will have a fresh lineup of drivers at the wheel of the car in 2019. Daniil Kvyat is all set to make an F1 comeback with the same team he last raced in F1 with. The Russian driver first debuted in Formula 1 with Toro Rosso in 2014. He was promoted to Red Bull right after Sebastian Vettel left the Austrian team for Ferrari.
With Max Verstappen emerging as the next F1 star and Kvyat being unable to perform just as good, he was demoted back to Toro Rosso, just after 4 rounds of the 2016 F1 season. A lack of confidence resulted in poor performances and Kvyat was finally shown the door in 2017.
The highly rated driver from Thailand, Alexander Albon is also all set to make his debut this season with Toro Rosso. Albon has an excellent junior category record and finished third in the 2018 Formula 2 season.
Scuderia Toro Rosso had to endure a quite unreliable season in 2018 with Honda engines. Although, the Honda engine showed some signs of improvement in power, as Gasly finished 4th in Bahrain, the engine was anything but unreliable. Toro Rosso finished the season 9th, second last in the standings.
With Haas and Toro Rosso already having launched their liveries and cars, the next team to pull off the covers is Williams later today.
Upcoming 2019 car launch dates:
February 11th | Williams
February 12th | Renault
February 13th | Racing Point
February 13th | Mercedes-AMG
February 13th | Red Bull
February 14th | McLaren
February 15th | Ferrari
February 18th | Sauber
The official livery launch can be followed on Toro Rosso's website. Click here
Comentarios