Sainz says lap count, not laptime the focus for Toro Rosso
Carlos Sainz Jr. says his focus will be Toro Rosso's lap count during the opening Formula 1 pre-season testing, after a Renault engine problem halted its filming day.
The Italian outfit was running at Misano but did not manage to complete the 100 kilometres of running permitted by the FIA when it encountered an issue with the energy recovery system on the Renault unit.
The ERS is a second-generation system introduced by Renault this year as part of a radical overhaul of its engine, which included an all-new architecture on the internal combustion engine.
The filming day was Toro Rosso’s first run with Renault power since renewing its partnership with the French manufacturer, the Italian team having run year-old Ferrari engines last year.
When asked if reliability was a concern after the problem during the filming day, following the launch of the STR12 in the Barcelona pitlane on Sunday evening ahead of the first pre-season test, Sainz Jr. said: “I don’t think we can be concerned from a filming day.
“During a filming day, you do pictures and filming and we managed to do all the pictures and all the filming, so we accomplished our objectives for that day.
“Hopefully tomorrow we can have no issue and cover kilometres as this is the first week of testing.
“I will be looking more at the lap count than the lap itself. This first week, we need to be patient and understand the new regs.”
Toro Rosso technical chief James Key added the team's focus will be on reliability and F1's new-for-2017 bigger tyres during the first week of testing, with attention switching to performance at the second test.
Key refused to comment on the reliability problem at Misano but believes the engine is a “great leap forward”.
“It was a sigh of relief really,” said Key of the switch from a 2015-spec Ferrari engine to a current spec Renault.
“Renault has done a great job.
“It’s all relative – Mercedes seem very confident as well at the moment.
“They’ve done an outstanding job and seem to be confident, so we’ll have to see where we are relative to them.
“It’s difficult to tell with Honda and Ferrari at the moment, that picture I guess will emerge over the next couple of months, but for us it’s a great leap forward.
"It’s great working with Renault again actually – they’re in good shape at the moment. We’re looking forward to a developing engine. That’s something we’ve missed the last two years.”
Share Or Save This Story
Sirotkin, Stroll to have two race engineers each
Hamilton "sacrifice" saved Mercedes an hour of testing
Kubica regrets being "too honest" about driving limitations
Lewis Hamilton: Younger F1 drivers are “more and more cautious” about racing in rain
What the drivers are expecting from F1's return to Sepang
Sainz interview: “I always believed in McLaren… but then Ferrari called”
Racing Bulls "not in a rush" to decide between three "fantastic" drivers for F1 2027
Arvid Lindblad issues apology after Racing Bulls team-mate clash in Baku
How Arvid Lindblad has shown that he's found his feet in F1
Pedro Acosta: MotoGP tyre pressure rules make us look like “donkeys”
Isack Hadjar "pissed off" after mechanical problems strike at Singapore GP
Super Formula Fuji: Ayumu Iwasa wins as Kakunoshin Ohta misses chance to seal title
MotoGP Indonesian GP: Marco Bezzecchi leads Aprilia 1-2-3-4; Jorge Martin reclaims points lead
What we learned from the 2026 F1 Singapore GP sprint and qualifying
How Honda plans a return to being an F1 powerhouse
Why Red Bull's 'crazy' power unit success matters so much for F1
No denying it now – the one reason why F1’s ‘horrible’ start in Malaysia could be a good thing
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments