Ceccon takes over for Toro Rosso
Day 2 of the three day test ran with a similar programme for Toro Rosso. It was however Kevin Ceccon’s turn to get some Formula 1 experience in the STR6. For the second day running, Scuderia Toro Rosso completed the most laps of all twelve teams present at the Yas Marina Circuit.
Laurent Mekies, Chief Engineer: In the morning, we resumed our evaluation of various aero components and in the afternoon the work centred on tyre testing. However, while yesterday, Coletti’s programme was based on a series of short runs, today, Ceccon was able to get a taste of what driving a Grand Prix might be like, as he did a race simulation in what was the hottest part of the day! Even though we asked a lot of him with a complex programme, he delivered a faultless performance. From a team point of view, it was another positive day, as we ran trouble free throughout and our programme is therefore going to plan. Tomorrow, we hope to bring it to a successful conclusion, running Coletti in the morning and Ceccon in the afternoon.”
Kevin Ceccon, STR6–02, Best time: 1:44.808, 97 laps: “This was an incredible experience for me, driving a Formula 1 car and working with this team and first, I must say thank you to Scuderia Toro Rosso for giving me this fantastic opportunity. We got through a lot of work today, testing parts for the car as well as next season’s Pirelli tyres, running them in comparison to this year’s. I drove two long runs, from which I was able to understand a lot. In fact, I felt that in one day of testing with an F1 car, I learned more than in several days in other categories of car! Therefore today was very good as a learning experience for me and I am looking forward to making more progress tomorrow from a personal point of view and also in terms of helping the team for next season.”