Bahrain GP - Toro Rosso Cosworth - Practice
Many people were curious as to how well the new Cosworth V10 powered Toro Rosso would go in the first practice session of the season - especially given that they are the only team not running the new 2.4 litre V8 spec-powerplant.
The answer is that they ran very well with Tonio Liuzzi setting the sixth best time in his STR1, while Scott Speed was 15th just behind test driver Neel Jani.

Tonio Liuzzi
“I’d say my good time was down to the fact we did four days testing here last month and also I managed to do 33 laps today. It was a straightforward day and the car responded well to the changes we made. It’s the first time we run with the new car here. In the morning, it was just a case of getting to grips with the track. Then in the afternoon, we began making progress in terms of set-up and tyre work."

"I am not sure what our qualifying pace will be tomorrow afternoon, but overtaking is tough here, so we need to aim high. I am confident we can do well even though I am not particularly fond of the technical nature of this track. But we’ve got off to a good start, so fingers crossed.”

Neel Jani
“So that’s my first ever free practice session at a grand prix weekend.
I enjoyed myself and I learned a lot, especially about the tyres as this is the first time I have been really been involved in this sort of work. I hope it will be useful for the two drivers over the rest of the weekend. I feel very comfortable in the car, even though I had only done one and a half days testing before today.”

Scott Speed
“It sure feels a lot different coming here with the new car after we tested at this track with the old one. This one definitely handles differently. I’m still coming to terms with it at the moment. I think everyone is seeing quite a bit of oversteer at the moment as the track is dirty and difficult. But you have to be careful not to chase the track in terms of your settings as it’s going to get better tomorrow.”

Tags: grand-prix,