Ricciardo in Toro Rosso for the first time
After last week’s launch and three days of testing, Scuderia Toro Rosso, along with all but one of the teams entered in the Formula 1 World Championship, began the second of four pre-season sessions. This one will last a total of four days and, so far, the weather in Jerez has been warm and sunny.
The team put in a lot of work at the factory, making changes to the STR 6 based on data acquired in Valencia and the first day in Jerez would suggest that those changes have delivered signs of progress. Today was a milestone for a product of the Red Bull Young Driver programme, as Daniel Ricciardo had his first ever drive in a Scuderia Toro Rosso car. The Australian, who will drive for the team in Free Practice 1 at most Grands Prix this year, completed 31 laps in the morning, before handing over to Jaime Alguersuari in the afternoon.
Daniel Ricciardo: “Jerez is where I first drove a Formula 1 car, when I tested for Red Bull Racing at the end of ’09 and the last time I drove an F1 car was last November, again with Red Bull in Abu Dhabi. It doesn’t sound like a long time, but three months out of a race car is long enough. It was good to be back in the cockpit. Fortunately, I seem to have remembered how to drive! Driving the Toro Rosso for the first time was another exciting experience for me. It went well and I did enough laps this morning to get settled in the cockpit, which is important, as I hope to get a bit more track time in testing, so that I can feel confident when I get to Bahrain and run in free practice on Friday morning at my first Grand Prix weekend. I also managed to use both of the important new elements, the KERS and the DRS (drag reduction system) which seemed to function as planned and I felt quite comfortable by the end of the morning.”
Jaime Alguersuari drives all day tomorrow (Friday) with Sebastien Buemi taking over for Saturday and Sunday.
