In an interview produced and released on Thursday by the Scuderia Toro Rosso, team boss Frank Tost has confirmed that the small Italian team will keep the same driver line-up for next season.
This means that Swiss Sébastien Buemi and Spaniard Jaime Alguersuari will be driving the new STR6 in 2011.
“I believe our drivers will be well prepared for 2011, which is why they are both confirmed for next year,” said Tost in the interview.
“ It is also logical, because one key role of Scuderia Toro Rosso is to bring on young drivers from the Red Bull Young Driver programme and at the ages of 21 and 20 respectively, both Seb and Jaime certainly still meet the right criteria.”
Tost also talked a about the design of the new STR6 that is happening at the same time as the STR5 is being developed.
“It is another new and interesting challenge for us. The design group has been split, with part of it already working on the 2011 car, including starting wind tunnel work, which is a first, given that our Bicester wind tunnel was not fully validated this time last year and therefore was not able to contribute much to the basic design of the 2010 car,” Tost explained.
“Another part of the design group is still working on developing new specifications for this year’s car. Of course, our resources are limited when compared to the teams ahead of us in the championship, but we have no plans to increase our manpower, as the F1 regulations are moving towards capping the size of the workforce in the future and while our size might be a disadvantage at the moment, it could become a positive factor in the future.”
This means that Swiss Sébastien Buemi and Spaniard Jaime Alguersuari will be driving the new STR6 in 2011.
“I believe our drivers will be well prepared for 2011, which is why they are both confirmed for next year,” said Tost in the interview.
“ It is also logical, because one key role of Scuderia Toro Rosso is to bring on young drivers from the Red Bull Young Driver programme and at the ages of 21 and 20 respectively, both Seb and Jaime certainly still meet the right criteria.”
Tost also talked a about the design of the new STR6 that is happening at the same time as the STR5 is being developed.
“It is another new and interesting challenge for us. The design group has been split, with part of it already working on the 2011 car, including starting wind tunnel work, which is a first, given that our Bicester wind tunnel was not fully validated this time last year and therefore was not able to contribute much to the basic design of the 2010 car,” Tost explained.
“Another part of the design group is still working on developing new specifications for this year’s car. Of course, our resources are limited when compared to the teams ahead of us in the championship, but we have no plans to increase our manpower, as the F1 regulations are moving towards capping the size of the workforce in the future and while our size might be a disadvantage at the moment, it could become a positive factor in the future.”