Toro Rosso Confirm Major Update for Monaco

Scuderia Toro Rosso will wait until the Monaco Grand Prix before introducing a completely new aerodynamic package for their STR6 challenger. While most of the teams will come to Istanbul two weekends from now with an improved package to kick off their European campaigns, the Faenza squad decided to wait a little longer until updating their 2011 challenger. The race in the principality kicks off in late May, which gives the team an extra month to prepare their new package.

“We have planned major steps for car development during the year that have been established since before the start of the season,” explained Toro Rosso's chief engineer Laurent Mekies, adding that the team has set up two major development steps for the entire season this year.

“We will see a significant step introduced in Monaco and another one later in the season. These two steps are planned and will hopefully provide good performance improvements.”

“However, it is also true that with minimal testing allowed, we have been trying different set-ups at the races and these can lead you down different paths in terms of ride height, or the type of springs to use, or in terms of the aero balance on the car and these elements can also impact on the development strategy for the car,” he added.

According to Mekies, STR is aiming for a midfield battle against teams like Sauber, Williams and Force India, squads that he hopes to beat in the long run.

“At the first race, we found we had a reasonable race pace and our direct competition came, as expected from Williams, Force India and Sauber and we found ourselves fighting these guys throughout the opening three races of the championship. (...) We are going to have an interesting fight with these three or four teams all season long – if you like, this is our championship battle within the championship.”