Tost: « A 2008 success difficult to replicate in 2009 »

The team principal of Toro Rosso, Franz Tost, thinks it will be difficult for his team to replicate in 2009 the success they enjoyed in 2008.

Although the STR4 has delivered promising results in recent tests, Tost asks fans not to get their hopes up, especially at the start of the season.

Moreover, the rising star of the team, driver Sebastian Vettel, has moved to Red Bull Racing. It will therefore take time for all these changes to be absorbed by the small Scuderia.

« It will be difficult to replicate last year’s success because to succeed in F1, you need a certain continuity; too many changes are toxic, » explained Tost on the official Formula 1 website.

« Sebastian Vettel left us to join Red Bull Racing and it will not be easy to replace him as he demonstrated exceptional professionalism. Nevertheless, we will do our best and I am confident that with this car, we will do a decent job. »

During the trials, we saw that all the teams are very closely matched. It will therefore be easy to stay in the middle of the pack.

Toro Rosso may regret having tested its STR4 alongside its competitors only once. For the moment, Tost is unable to assess his team’s performance compared to the rest of the F1 field.

Furthermore, testing time in Barcelona was lost due to a suspension problem on the car.

« The car looks fantastic. Red Bull Technology and Adrian Newey have done an excellent job. Based on a single full-scale test, it’s hard to position ourselves but we will find out very soon, » continued the Austrian.

« Last week was satisfactory, even though we had a suspension problem that day which limited us to only 20 laps. We decided to stop as a safety measure. »