The logistics of the American trip according to Scuderia Toro Rosso

We will find the oriental nights again for the last event of this season, in Abu Dhabi, at the end of November. But now the Circus has left Asia, after the Malaysia-Japan back-to-back and is moving towards the New World... the Americas! We start with another pair of consecutive matches, already at the end of October: United States-Mexico. And it will continue in November with the traditional race in Interlagos, Brazil.

Three Grands Prix, three trips between North, Central and South America which set in motion the enormous logistical structure of Formula 1 and the individual teams, busy moving men and vehicles from one continent to another to be ready on the race fields of this last phase of the 2016 World Championship. As far as Scuderia Toro Rosso is concerned, much of the material, including our single-seaters, actually left our factory in Faenza last September 9th, shortly after our home Grand Prix, to Monza.

Since then, the chassis have traveled to compete in the Singapore, Malaysian and Japanese Grands Prix. Now it is the turn of the United States, in view of the race in Austin, Texas. Then Mexico, Brazil and Abu Dhabi: basically our STR11s, barring unforeseen circumstances, will never return home until the end of this 2016 World Championship, when their racing career will essentially be over. But how does all this material travel? Everything is dismantled, including cars, and placed inside numerous crates which then travel on board cargo planes. Our staff will find everything, time after time, directly on the track, to face a new race. What travels from one circuit to another, without returning home, before being reused.

But there is also some material that still returns to Faenza because it requires more accurate checks that cannot be carried out inside the garages. But that's not all, there are also Sea Freights: they contain very heavy material which is actually shipped by sea. These clearly take much longer to reach the competition fields, which is why in this case we have identical kits that leave from the port of Genoa at different times of the year. What do they contain? Tools used by our mechanics, panels for the pits, stands and supports used in the back pits, consumables, etc…

The last sea freight to leave, just to give an example, is the one that left Faenza last September 15th and which will be used at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City. From cars to people: obviously in the presence of consecutive races (as Malaysia-Japan was or as USA-Mexico will be) the members of our team go from one country to another without returning home.

This month of October is very busy for everyone, even for those who work in the factory: this only free weekend in October will in fact be the only opportunity to return to their families or to rest in view of another tour de force, that of the New World.