RedBull's sister team, Scuderia Toro Rosso is ready for new era after unveiling STR6 car which is a brand-new car which the Faenza-based squad has build on its own.
Team Principal Franz Tost reckons his Toro Rosso team is ready for a new era. "We are quite confident that we have a good future and can have a good year in 2011. We are still building up our infrastructure. In a Formula One team, there is always movement, so you have to keep an eye on every department trying to improve performance."
Of course the STR6 looks like the Red Bull RB7, but make no mistake about this, it's the livery that makes it look the same, as Toro Rosso has build and designed this car for the second successive year 'in-house' using a new more sophisticated CDF (Computational Fluid Dynamics) computer system. The sharp and pointy nose of the car is high of the ground, certainly higher than the Red Bull's. As usual, to mark the difference between the two Red Bull sponsored cars, the Toro Rosso nose is painted gold, while the nose of the Red Bull is painted yellow. The front wing and especially the flaps have an extraordinary complicated design, with the nose high up in the air, the middle section of the wing guides all the air to the under-tray of the car, and the flaps and the wing endplates are aerodynamically shaped to create an optimum airflow around the front wheels.
The rear of the car looks relatively smooth, and the engine cover slopes right down to the gearbox, and has a small shark-like fin. The side pods and airbox have also been reshaped compared to 2010. Toro Rosso will use the client Ferrari 056 engine, and the Ferrari KERS system just like the previous years.
Technical Director Giorgio Ascanelli, once the race engineer of the late Ayrton Senna, is man who is responsible for many of the design features of the STR6.
"For this year, we have to aim for eighth place [in the Constructors' Championship], because that is our target and I didn't think that was possible if we had gone with some sort of conventional car. It's an ambitious way, if it doesn't work that will be my responsibility and I am going to take it."
Toro Rosso decided to retain their driver line-up of Spaniard Jaime Alguersuari and Swiss Sebastien Buemi. Team's test driver will be RedBull's new talent Daniel Ricciardo. Alguersuari will turn 21 just before the 2011 Australian Grand Prix, but already has gained plenty of experience in Formula One.
"I think it is definitely a key season for me this year. Every season is important and definitely this one is going to be very significant for myself, because it is my second full year in Formula One and because it is the second year that Toro Rosso builds its own car, so it will be completely decisive for our future."
For Buemi it will be his third full season in the sport, and he is fully prepared for the 2011 season.
"The best thing about Formula One is to drive the car, just to get in the car and go racing against all the other drivers. You race against the best drivers in the world, you race with the fastest cars in the world on the best and most beautiful circuits in the world, which makes everything fantastic."
