(Eric Vargiolu DPPI for Renault Sport F1)
Toro Rosso head to the Spanish Grand Prix this weekend following a string of impressive points finishes for their rookie driver. Russian Daniil Kvyat, who made the step up to the Italian team after Daniel Ricciardo has moved to Red Bull Racing has scored points in three of the opening four Grand Prix of the 2014 season and that includes scoring two points on his Formula One debut in Australia. Last time out in China, he scored one point when he finished 10th. He will be hoping to carry this momentum into the European leg of the season.
Team mate Jean Eric Vergne in contrast has had a difficult start to his 2014 season as the Frenchman has had one points scoring finish which came in Australia where he finished the race in 6th place. Since then he has has suffered two back to back retirements in Malaysia and Bahrain and finished the Chinese Grand Prix in 12th place.
In Spain last season, Vegne retired from the race and will be hoping for better fortune this season as he hopes to build on his four points.
Toro Rosso head to the start of the European season with upgrade package's for the next four Grand Prix with their major upgrade due for the Austrian Grand Prix which takes place in the middle of June. For this weekend's race in Barcelona the team have a minor aerodynamic update that they home will give them an advantage down the the long main straight on the Circuit de Catalunya.
The team who made the switch to the Renault power unit over the Winter have admitted that they have yet to achieve the full potential of the new unit and as a result of this it has affected their progress in the opening rounds of the season.
Toro Rosso are currently the last of the points scoring teams in the Constructors championship in 7th place, 28 points behind the Mercedes powered Williams Martini Racing Team so they will be hoping to close the gap to the Grove based team.
The team have admitted that it could be difficult to get an advantage from their new parts this weekend as they are looking for long term progress and that is why they have opted to spread out their update programme over the next four Grand Prix which includes a fly-away race in Canada.
©Ben Johmston 2014
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