Toro Rosso chief targets top-five finish in constructors’ points

Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost has set his sights on taking his team into the top five of the Formula One World Constructors’ Championship, this despite taking on two rookie drivers in Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen.

Following the launch of the 2015 car, the STR10, Tost said the target was “Fifth place in the constructors’ championship, but it means that both drivers have to be permanently within the points.”

Tost has put his full backing behind Sainz and Verstappen, and believes they both can deliver at the top level.

“Once we decided to bring on the new drivers, we had lots of meetings and talked a lot about the technical side, they had a lot of meetings with engineers and did a lot in the simulator,” said Tost. “We have a lot of mileage in our programme, and if we can do a good job in testing, I’m sure they will come up with a good show in Melbourne.

“I think that they will be quite close together, both are very high skilled drivers, therefore I don’t expect one to be far ahead [of the other]. I think both will do a good job.

“There will be no chief, no number one and number two. For us it’s to educate the drivers in the best possible way, so they learn from track to track. We will put in a lot of effort to tell them about the different racetracks, and I generally expect them to be on the same level of performance.”