The Goal Is P6 In The WCC

Knowing that 2014 will bring wholesale changes to the cars, it might seem tempting for Scuderia Toro Rosso to 'coast' through this season without any serious commitment to improving upon a disappointing 2012 campaign, but Team Principal Franz Tost is having none of that. He has set the goal exactly where it was at the start of last season: He wants STR to claim P6 in the Constructor's Championship at year's end.  

With driver continutiy, and the addition of new Technical Director James Key, Tost believes that the team has the foundation upon which it can build towards this goal. His main focus will be in two areas; learning from last year's operational missetps and maximizing the efficiency of effort from the comparatively small staff.

“We had a car that was good at the start of the season, but we lost out on development in the course of the year,” he admitted to the press, “We have done a very detailed analysis of where it went wrong last year - in what areas our car had deficits - and hopefully have learned from that 2012 experience. I am pretty sure that we have a much better car now and will be able to give our two guys a much better chance to compete.”

“Our battle cry is 'efficiency'! We have around 300 [employees]. In peak times we add 30 contractors for the production facility. We have to be efficient to the bone and sometimes you are better off and more flexible than with a huge headcount. I feel that we have a good situation with our technical department and that we are on our way.”

Scuderia Toro Rosso is currently in the midst of the first pre-season testing session, at Jerez. Daniel Ricciardo handled the driving duties for Tuesday and Wednesday. Jean-Eric Vergne will take over for the Thursday and Friday sessions.

I will post a recap of the team's results sometime this weekend.