New Toro Rosso breaks ground, Bourdais destroys car
During the car's public debut at the Circuit de Catalunya, the French driver crashed at high speed, damaging the left hand side of the Red Bull Technology-designed single seater.
A spokeswoman confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that a lack of spare parts means that the STR3 will not be able to remerge as scheduled in the hands of Sebastian Vettel on Thursday.
Toro Rosso has been racing a development of last year's car, the STR2, in the opening grands prix of 2008.
"The plan was to introduce the new car as from the Turkish grand prix," the team confirmed on Wednesday. "These plans might have to be changed as the new car was very badly damaged in a testing accident today," Toro Rosso added in a statement.
The team said the cause of Bourdais' off, which occurred on his seventy-second lap of the day, is being investigated.
04/16/08 Fortunately, Sebastien Bourdais, who was at the wheel, is perfectly okay and did not require any medical attention whatsoever. If only they could say the same for STR3! Engineers are currently examining the car to see if it is heading straight for the Toro Rosso Museum of Modern Art. One thing is certain, the car will not be ready for tomorrow's final day of testing. The cause of the incident is being investigated by our engineers.
Up until this afternoon's crash, Bourdais had completed 71 laps, with a quickest time of 1.20.715 just 1/10th behind Hamilton and ahead of Webber, so he was pushing it. During the lunch break, the Frenchman had this to say: "The baseline is quite good and I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised. However, the track conditions might be extremely good so I need to be careful with everything I say but so far the car has had no problems at all, which is a very encouraging point. The feeling is good and I felt comfortable in the car straight away. From a driving point of view you can feel it has more downforce than the current one and it's a big step forward on the aero package."
04/16/08 Sebastien Bourdais wrote off the new STR3 at Barcelona today, handing the team a major setback as it rushes to have the new car ready for the first European race. Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost ruled out mechanical failure as the cause of the accident, saying: "He simply went too fast."
04/16/08 Scuderia Toro Rosso have revealed the STR3 to the public. Sebastien Bourdais got the honor of rolling out the car at the Circuit de Catalunya. Earlier this month, the STR3 had a shakedown at Vairano in Italy.
The STR3 bears a strong resemblance to Red Bull's RB4 and features a similar airbox sharkfin and front wing assembly.
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| Bourdais shakes down STR3 |