Carlos Sainz enjoyed his first test session as a fully fledged Toro Rosso F1 driver, and attributes hard work he did over the winter off-season to his seamless adaptation to life at the pinnacle of the sport.
Speaking after his second day, of a two day stint at Jerez in the STR10, the Spaniard said, “It’s been a really nice day for me and I enjoyed what I consider my first real day of Formula 1 testing. Hitting a target of 137 laps was quite an achievement.”
“All these laps also meant I was able to evaluate my physical condition and, on this front, I am quite pleased, as it seems the work we did over the winter has paid off.”
“The fact we managed to do such a big distance is down to all the hard work of everyone in the team, the mechanics working day and night here at the track and also everyone back in the factory. They did a brilliant job and, thanks to them, I was able to learn a lot,” revealed Sainz.
Phil Charles, Toro Rosso chief race engineer, said, “A very productive day, during which we completed a lot of laps. Everything went smoothly, which was good for Carlos, as it meant he was able to do long enough runs to learn valuable lessons about tyre management.”
“That was part of our chassis programme, as well as working on its performance during the morning. We were also able to get Carlos doing practice starts, including some on a wet track, which will be another useful lesson for the coming season. All in all, a good day’s work,” concluded Charles.