Toro Rosso with clear goals for the STR6

Toro Rosso also presented its F1 car for the 2011 season at the first official testing that took place in Valencia this week. The Italian team has at the launch of the car a clear goal for the new season: it is aiming for a final eighth place in the standings in constructors’ championship.

Having finished in ninth place last year, Toro Rosso will be making its sixth participation in the Formula One World Championship for the sixth time and the second as a designer of their own car. Produced at their Faenza factory and tested at their Bicester wind tunnel facility, Giorgio Ascanelli, technical director is excited to see it hit the track.

“This year the tools which design the car in its performance aspect, which are again the wind tunnel and CFD, are more mature, which means that although we are still learning how to make the best of them I think we have started using them properly,” Ascanelli explained.

Ascanelli says Toro Rosso has been more ambitious than last year and taking advantage of the regulation changes they made some 14 changes in STR6 in order to reach at least the eighth place at the end of the season.

"It’s an ambitious way, if it doesn’t work that will be my responsibility and I am going to take it. We will try to do better and we will try to fulfil our mission which is at the end of 2011, we want to have a 2012 which is better than 2011,” said Ascanelli.

Franz Tost continues confident that Toro Rosso will be climbing the order in 2011.

“The past five years have shown a good history for the team, as we had to build everything up almost from zero,” said Tost. “We are quite confident that we have a good future and can have a good year in 2011.”

Toro will be keeping its driver lineup for 2011 with Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari. In 2010 the two drivers managed to secure a total of 13 points for the team (eight and five respectively). For 2011 both drivers have bigger ambitions.

“I have big expectations to be honest, as I have quite a lot of experience now. I know all the circuits, I know how Formula One works and we also have quite a lot of experience in terms of building up the car,” said Buemi. “We switched the focus to the 2011 car pretty early in the season last year, so I have big hopes for the start of the season and how things will work out.”

Alguersuari thinks 2011 may be a very important year for his future in F1.

“Every season is important and definitely this one is going to be very significant for myself, because it is my second full year in Formula One and because it is the second year that Toro Rosso builds its own car, so it will be completely decisive for our future, for the future of Toro Rosso and for my future.”