Toro Rosso reveals its 2012 challenger

Toro Rosso was the third team to reveal its 2012 challenger, and just like last year they do it in the pitlane, ahead of the start of winter testing. The car was presented by team principal Franz Tost, along with his two drivers, Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne.

Team principal Franz Tost presented the car as follows:

“The STR 7 is the third car designed, produced and assembled entirely by Toro Rosso. Over those three years, we have increased our workforce from 160 to 300 and Toro Rosso is now in the most stable and strongest position since it was founded: apart from being up to strength in terms of personnel, we can also work from a sound financial basis, thanks to the support of Red Bull, with further backing from our sponsors, Cepsa, Nova Chemicals and Falcon Private Bank. Everything is therefore in place for us to move forward and reap the benefits of this stability on the race track.

“STR6 was a major step forward in terms of performance compared to the 2010 car, the STR5, therefore I expect to see a further improvement with this year’s car. Last year, we finished eighth in the Constructors’ championship and clearly we want to do better than that this time. It is far too early to make predictions, but looking at the work we have done over the winter, we must set ourselves the target of finishing sixth or at least seventh by the time we pack up in Brazil in November.

“We are looking forward to working with our rookie driver line-up of Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne, both of whom are very talented young drivers. They are extremely committed and motivated and they are well acquainted with the team, having both run with us in Friday morning sessions in 2011. Daniel has the greater experience of the two, having competed in 11 Grands Prix with another team last season, but Jean-Eric also has the right background and apart from running with us in a few Friday sessions, he also tested with Red Bull Racing as recently as Abu Dhabi last year and has spent many useful hours in the simulator.

“Last season produced some exciting battles and even though the championship titles were decided quite early, interest in F1 remained high to the end of the year, as can be seen from television viewing figures. There was plenty of on-track action, partly thanks to the rule changes introduced by the FIA and 2012 should be another thrilling year. I expect Red Bull Racing, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes will be very close at the front of the field and naturally, as part of the same family, we hope Red Bull Racing will again have the upper hand. No doubt, we will find ourselves fighting with our usual adversaries behind the top four. I am very happy there are 20 races on the calendar and I am looking forward to returning to race in the United States for the first time in many years. It looks like being a great year for Formula 1 and I hope for Scuderia Toro Rosso too.”