Toro Rosso Will Not Develop F-Duct for STR5

After several drivers have urged their teams to develop the McLaren-type F-duct system from as early as the upcoming Spanish Grand Prix, as it is believed to add some 6mph to the car's speed in straight line, some teams have vowed not to take the same approach in their development programme as the Woking based team.

The first outfit to declare itself totally against pouring money into such a design was Renault, while Red Bull Racing also admitted recently, through the voice of team principal Christian Horner, that implementing the new F-duct system is not a priority for his team (despite Vettel's comments on Friday).

As it appears, Red Bull's sister team Scuderia Toro Rosso – which now has its own Technical Center to prepare the parts for their STR5 single-seater – also ruled out investing in such a costly design. Instead, their technical director Giorgio Ascanelli confirmed the team will invest in other areas in order to improve the car's performances once the European season starts in early May.

“That's because if I have ten euros in my pocket and I'm hungry, I buy two sandwiches with it instead of three grams of caviar,” exemplified Ascanelli in an interview with Italian magazine Autosprint. “Maybe we'd be able to find some advantages after five months of development, but in that same time span we can improve even more by developing other parts of the car.”

“That kind of system is no good for those who, like us, began to get the wind tunnel to work properly only in November,” added the Italian technical, who also agreed (partially) with the allegations that the system only works in clean air conditions and helps little when it comes to overtaking maneuvers.