Toro Rosso leave Spielberg with mixed feelings
Toro Rosso had an eventful race weekend in Austria. The Faenza-based outfit had a massive crash and reliability problems to overcome over the course of the Austrian GP weekend. It still ended with a points scoring finish for Carlos Sainz whereas Daniil Kvyat retired early on.
Sainz left Austria with smile on his face as he scored four points after starting from the lower side of the grid.
“I’m very pleased with my race today, especially because we didn’t have an easy one!" cheered Sainz.
"We started from the back and did a good start, managing to get into the top 10 in the early stages of the race.
"Suddenly, after the second pit-stop during the Safety Car period, we were nearly last… Which meant we had to do a very good last stint on the Soft tyres – 35 laps – overtaking lots of cars and managing to get back into the top eight, something a bit unexpected after seeing myself back in P15 with half the race to go."
The former Formula Renault 3.5 champion knows that the team has to improve on the car's qualifying pace if it wants to lift its chances in the all-important race.
"After a tough Saturday, I’m happy to finish the weekend with a good result as we’ve worked very hard for this – now we just need to make sure we have better Saturdays in order to start races further up the grid and fight for more points."
Sainz is looking forward to the next race which takes place in Silverstone as the high-speed British track is one of his favourites.
"I’m confident we can do it and I look forward to next week’s race weekend in Silverstone – my favourite track together with Spa – where we will keep pushing!”
Daniil Kvyat meanwhile experienced problems in Saturday's qualifying as the right rear suspension of his Toro Rosso broke due to high oscillations over the kerbs. The Russian had to start the race from the pit lane and soon had to retire with a car problem.
“What an unfortunate weekend. We started today’s race from the pit-lane, but I was only able to complete one lap before having to retire because of what looks like a mechanical issue – we still need to investigate what the exact reason is."
The 2013 GP3 champion could not hide his frustration after the miserable race.
"It’s painful, but this is racing… Of course today I feel really frustrated, but tomorrow I will wake up and will have found the strength to move on."
The Russian can only hope that things get better for him in next weekend's British GP.
"In moments like these I always remember what someone once told me: 90% of being a racing driver is tough but the remaining 10% is so good, that it’s all worth it – let’s just hope that 10% is back in Silverstone next week! We will definitely work hard to make it happen.”
