F1 | Toro Rosso satisfied: “More performance with upgrades”

One of the indispensable qualities for a Formula 1 team is optimism. If it wasn't there, how could you tackle a race when you find yourself starting from the back of the grid? Last Sunday, in Montreal, Pierre Gasly found himself in exactly this situation, but after 70 laps he passed under the checkered flag - yes, the one waved one lap early by the Canadian model - placing himself in eleventh position.

Eleven is a significant number in our sport. It is said that whoever qualifies eleventh starts in a strong position, because he is the first driver in the standings to have the possibility of freely choosing the tires to use to start the race. But crossing the finish line in eleventh place is rather frustrating, because it means that you are just outside the points zone and nothing repays the hard work of an entire weekend.

It's true, we left Montreal without any points in our bag, but if we channel that optimism we talked about above, then we can say that the Canadian weekend produced several encouraging signs for Scuderia Toro Rosso. The first transatlantic voyage of the year traditionally coincides with the arrival of several updates regarding the power units and our partner Honda has provided us with new ones with some innovations related to the internal combustion engine. Right from free practice it was clear that the two STR13s had a bit of extra horsepower available which, combined with some aerodynamic updates, gave an indication of how competitive we could be in the mid-pack battle, now that we return to racing in Europe, after this interlude in Montreal.

Pierre's performance on Sunday confirmed his status as the sport's new star, while Brendon experienced another unlucky race which wiped out what could have been a good opportunity to score points. For both our drivers, this was the first time on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and Brendon was having a lot of fun on this track, where in qualifying he had achieved a good twelfth place on the grid. However, during the first lap of the race, he was pushed into the wall by Lance Stroll, who lost his car at turn 4. The impact was very violent and Brendon was taken to hospital for some checks which, for Luckily, they ruled out any type of physical problem.

If we were to explain in detail the rules and penalties relating to engine management in F1, you might find yourself reading this article for a few hours. So, to summarize, let's say that before qualifying, due to a problem, we had to change Pierre's engine, but we decided to replace it again before the race. In this way, Pierre raced using the engine with the new specifications, already serving the penalty for the replacement in Canada, starting from the back of the grid. And now, he will be able to give it his all on the Paul Ricard circuit, for his home race – the French GP – in two weeks.