Scuderia Toro Rosso has officially unveiled their 2018 Formula 1 racer with a presentation in the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya paddock.
The STR13 made its track debut at a wet Misano circuit, with Brendon Hartley in the driving seat.
The former WEC sportscar champion will take on driving duties for the first day of the Barcelona test, with Pierre Gasly taking over on day two.
Hartley will then be back in the car for day three, with Gasly completing the four-day test.
After images of the car were leaked online, Toro Rosso responded by sharing the first official photo on social media.
It then officially revealed the car, which sports a similar livery to the one it raced last season, in the pitlane ahead of the start of pre-season testing.
Toro Rosso will run Honda power for the first time in 2018, after the Italian team switched from Renault to the Japanese manufacturer.
This will be interesting times for both team and engine manufacturer, with the latter suffering from a nightmare three seasons with McLaren.
Hopefully this new technical partnership will showcase Honda’s potential to succeed without the heavy pressure of winning demanded by McLaren. Best of luck to Toro Rosso in the season ahead.
Social media:
https://twitter.com/ToroRosso/status/968021162415607808
https://twitter.com/ToroRosso/status/968026711236513792
Official site:
https://scuderiatororosso.redbull.com/it_IT/car/str13
News story:
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/headlines/2018/2/toro-rosso-_convinced-by-honda-potential.html
https://www.racefans.net/2018/02/26/toro-rosso-officially-unveils-new-str13-2018-season/
https://www.racefans.net/2018/02/26/honda-big-gains-off-season-tost-toro-rosso/
https://wtf1.com/post/the-toro-rosso-str13-has-now-been-officially-revealed/
http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/11196545/toro-rosso-officially-unveil-str13-their-first-car-with-honda
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/43195086
Toro Rosso staff had lessons on how to communicate effectively with Japanese companies ahead of the team’s new partnership with Formula 1 engine supplier Honda.
Communication was a key issue during Honda’s tumultuous three-year reunion with McLaren, and Toro Rosso has been keen to avoid a repeat.
Speaking after the launch of the new Toro Rosso, team principal Franz Tost revealed the team had seminars at its factory at HQ to help staff understand the culture.
“We have a real fantastic working relationship with Honda,” said Tost. “There were no problems, from the communication side.
“We at Toro Rosso started to prepare ourselves for this corporation. We had some lessons in Faenza how to communicate with Japanese companies in the form of Honda.
“This was useful to get an idea of the way of thinking because it’s a completely different culture. These seminars had a really positive result.
“It was a complete new start from Toro Rosso. We are a kind of works team.
“For Toro Rosso it is a big advantage to work with such a big company as Honda.”
Toro Rosso shook the car down at Misano last week, with the test running smoothly and the team completing the running ahead of schedule.
And technical director Key said the fire-up had gone well and had too been completed a day early.
Tost has been impressed with Honda so far and feels positive about the engine’s reliability and performance despite its recent difficulties.
“We won’t have any troubles, because the power unit is working quite well,” said Tost.
“I am convinced Honda has the capacity and the know-how to develop the engine on a level that later we will be there where we all expect to be.
“I see it very, very positively because Honda made a lot of progress in the last months from the reliability side, from the performance side and we are all looking forward to this season.”
Source: Motorsport.com