Toro Rosso presents the 2016 season: “Exhausts and tyres, here's what changes”

The stable is on its official website Toro Rosso, powered by Ferrari since 2016, concisely presented the most important innovations of the next Formula One season, namely the new rules on the use of Pirelli tire sets and the westgate valve exhaust to increase the sound of V6 engines . Toro Rosso greeted its fans, making it known that it is already fully focused on the next championship. The team also talked about the Ferrari PU, hoping to be able to better develop the unit provided to them.

“What can we expect from next year? Well, for starters, we will have two more races: the calendar is thus transformed into a challenge lasting 21 rounds. And this, in itself, is a record: one more Grand Prix than in 2012, when 20 races were held - we read on the STR website -  Germany is back, with Hockenheim, and before that we will go to Azerbaijan for the European Grand Prix where - for the first time ever - we will race on the street circuit located in the capital Baku. This new event will be held just a week after the Canadian Grand Prix and, as it is easy to imagine, it will be very demanding for everyone, also from a logistical point of view. In reality, this is only one of the pairs of consecutive races: the others will be Austria-Great Britain, Hungary-Germany, Belgium-Italy, Malaysia-Japan and United States-Mexico. As far as we are concerned, here in Faenza, the biggest change in this third year in the era of hybrid power units will be represented by the new Ferrari engine, which we will mount on the STR11. Our power unit will be based on the one that the Prancing Horse used during 2015, but the changes to the technical regulations will give manufacturers a little more freedom than in the past two years: the number of tokens – the system that regulates this which can be modified on the PUs – it is more conspicuous and goes from the 25 tokens originally foreseen to 32. Therefore, much more work will be possible on the turbo and hybrid systems". Toro Rosso therefore "asks" Ferrari to develop the Power Unit supplied to it to the maximum.

“Our STR11 will also have new exhausts, because the rules require that even the turbo wastegate now has its own exhaust: a change introduced to emphasize the roar of the engines – we read about the new rules introduced -  Last year the Virtual Safety Car regime was introduced, which forces drivers to proceed at a pre-established speed, despite not having the actual safety car on the track to compact the group. To ensure that drivers can become even more familiar with this system and quickly return to normal racing conditions, VSC will also be used during free practice sessions starting this year. Perhaps we will have the biggest news on the tire front, as Pirelli will provide three dry compounds for each race. Of the 13 sets available in a weekend for each driver: Pirelli will choose two for the race (even of a different compound) and a third, of the softer compound, will instead have to be fitted in Q3. The drivers will be able to decide the compounds for the remaining 10 sets. Furthermore, there is a new compound for 2016 which is added to the existing ones: UltraSoft, which will naturally be one of the most popular during qualifying."

Antonino Rendina

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