Tuesday, 20th May 2008

Technical director admits to advantages and disadvantages of Monaco roll-out.

Scuderia Toro Rosso technical director Giorgio Ascanelli has again admitted that picking Monaco as the venue for the team's new STR3 chassis to contest its first race is far from ideal, but insists that the time is right to dispense with the ageing STR2B.

The all-new machine had been due to debut at the Turkish Grand Prix, but its appearance was delayed after Sebastien Bourdais' testing crash in Barcelona meant that there was insufficient time to prepare two complete cars for Istanbul. While admitting that pushing the first race run back to Monaco was not going to present the easiest of challenges, however, Ascanelli maintains that the STR2B would not have been good enough to tackle the blue riband event.

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"I am both brave and mad - as everyone knows!" the Italian smiled when asked about the timing of the STR3's debut, "Introducing a new car in Monaco, especially when the weather forecast is for rain, is putting at risk our spares availability but, nevertheless, there are reasons that lead us to bring two new cars here.

"Firstly, delaying its debut by one more race would mean less running and less experience with the car and the crucial learning curve would be further delayed, which is not a good thing. Secondly, Monte Carlo would have been a step too far for the old car, and the specific demands of this circuit mean we would have been badly prepared to tackle it with the STR2B, which was last year's car with different gearbox, bodywork and wings. We had not planned to race it here, so Monaco preparation would have been poor."

Ascanelli pointed to the specific demands of working at Monaco as a key factor in the circuit's suitability as a roll-out venue, but insisted that the team would do its best to minimise any problems it may face.

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