Toro Rosso hoping to find success with F-duct feature
The increasing popularity of the new F-duct aerodynamic device has recently spread to Formula One team Toro Rosso (STR-Ferrari), who is striving to claim eighth place in the constructor’s championship
over Sauber. The new duct, which functions to reduce downforce and aerodynamic drag, has been enthusiastically adopted by all the major F1 teams since it was introduced by McLaren earlier this year.
Aware of its growing impact on race outcomes, Toro Rosso previewed the F-duct on their vehicle at Monza, but the configuration failed to produce a good result and was excluded for the qualifying and racing
sessions.
Yet Sebastien Buemi of Toro Rosso is convinced that investing a little tweaking time into the device will be worthwhile in the long-run. “It is always difficult to quantify what you can gain with the F-duct,"
Buemi explains, according to AUTOSPORT.com. “But one thing that is for sure is that if you can get it to work properly, it's [worth] between two and six/seven tenths – it depends on the circuit.”
With the Singapore Grand Prix just around the corner, Buemi is hoping to capitalize on an improved vehicle and narrow the 17 point gap between Toro Rosso and Sauber. “We've got to make it work,” Buemi
insists, “Because this is the way we will be able to fight against Sauber and finish ahead of them in the championship. So we are putting all our effort together to make it work for Singapore. But it's going to be difficult. We are now working hard in the
wind tunnel to find out why it did not really work and then we will see if we can have it for Singapore.”
His sentiments are reflective of boss Franz Tost’s, who is aiming to put the F-duct in place for the entire Singapore event. “We just have to analyse why it didn't work so well [at Monza] on Friday. But
I'm convinced that our engineering department will find the solution.”
He adds enthusiastically, “Apart from the F-duct, I think that in setting up the car we made a step forward. We must not forget that we have two very inexperienced drivers, but they are learning very fast,
and in the meantime I'm quite confident and convinced that they know how to set up the car, and they made a step forward in how they do this procedure. So I'm quite optimistic.”
Toro Rosso is currently ninth in the constructor’s championships with 10 points.
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