Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost is confident that the squad will regain fifth position from Williams in the Constructors’ Championship, having slipped behind its rivals at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Toro Rosso led Williams in the midfield fight, substantially adrift of Force India, but Lance Stroll’s podium in Baku enabled the Mercedes-powered outfit to slot into fifth overall.
Williams now holds a slender four-point buffer back to Toro Rosso, but Tost remains sure that the Faenza-based operation will recapture the spot in the coming events.
“We knew from the beginning that both Canada and Azerbaijan are race tracks that are not in our favour but, nevertheless, we scored some points,” said Tost.
“Unfortunately, we’ve lost fifth position in the Constructors’ Championship to Williams.
“Now we have to fight back but I’m positive that, earlier or later, we will be back in that position.
“We now go to Austria, where we hope to be prepared as well as possible in order to finish with both cars in the points.”
Carlos Sainz Jr. finished in eighth place after recovering from a spin exiting Turn 1 on the opening lap, which he attributed to avoiding team-mate Daniil Kvyat.
“When I got to Turn 1 I saw Daniil rejoining the track and I had to quickly avoid crashing into him, which would’ve been a disaster for the team,” he said.
“I spun, but it was a sacrifice I had to do. From then onwards, I kept calm, was very patient, and we recovered from last to eighth without making any mistakes.”
Kvyat retired from the race after his STR12 shut down.
