Logos aside, much remained the same for the team, which qualified in the bottom third of the grid, raced each other and the Super Aguris and ultimately ended the weekend disappointed. Despite that, however, the mood is buoyant heading to Shanghai, with a new livery brightening the M16s, a new third driver in the shape of GP2 frontrunner Alex Premat and renewed confidence that it can finally get on to the scoreboard before the year is out.
"The three last races of the season are really important and, now with Spyker having bought the team, there will be a new dynamic in the team and everyone has a new, refreshed motivation," Tiago Monteiro confirmed, "There’s a really fantastic atmosphere in the team, and even the new orange colour scheme is very nice to look at.
"Monza wasn't the perfect weekend as we had some braking problems but, since then, the team has worked hard on the problem and we shouldn’t have any more issues. Braking is especially important at Shanghai because there are a couple of very heavy braking points that can make good overtaking opportunities.
“Beyond that, we need to keep an eye on the weather, which can be a bit changeable. I’m confident we can be quite competitive at Shanghai and do well, especially in the challenging, technical corners like turn 13, which is key to a good lap time. The team worked well during the test at
Silverstone and we have a good idea of tyre choice for the race, so the stage is set for a good weekend. We just need to work carefully on Friday and Saturday morning to fine tune the car into the circuit."
Premat will make his
F1 debut during Friday's two free practice sessions, with
Adrian Sutil and Ernesto Viso slated to take over at the remaining races this season.
Scuderia Toro Rosso - Vitantonio Liuzzi (#20), Scott Speed (#21):
Despite expecting to be left behind by more modern machinery, Scuderia Toro Rosso at least had the satisfaction of harrying sister team
Red Bull Racing to the line at Monza, all four of the drinks brand's car crossing the stripe line astern as the V10 Cosworths came into their won on the Italian circuit's straights.
