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Toro Rosso deputy technical director Jody Egginton says that Alexander Albon exceeded expectations throughout his first week of testing.
The Thai-British racer drove the STR14 on Tuesday and Thursday, accumulating 268 and the second fastest overall time. His Toro Rosso career got off to a shaky start on Tuesday however, as he spun the car on his maiden out lap in the morning, which pitched him into the gravel.
The first time Albon drove a Formula 1 car was at the team's shakedown prior to the start of testing. Egginton believes that he has done a "fantastic" job when taking into account his lack of experience.
“He’d not driven a Formula 1 car before,” said Egginton in Barcelona. “He’d done a reasonable amount of simulator work, which you can imagine we’ve done a big simulator programme and he’s done a lot of time with us.
"On the filming day he did a good job getting in and here he has been fantastic. The installation lap off was partly engineering induced, it wasn’t directly his fault to be fair, after that he got into the programme and he’s been great.
"Toro Rosso are familiar with young drivers. His progress in places where he was quick initially and not quick enough are exactly as you’d expect.
"But by the end of the day he’d ticked every box and on some of his long runs, especially on the C2 compound, he did a really good job, we’re really pleased with him, a fantastic approach, and he’s exceeded my expectations.
"The engineers are pleased, we’re really excited to be working with him. He hadn’t done much running, only a bit at Misano, before here, but he’s been really good so far, we’re happy and impressed.
"It’s one of the nice things about Toro Rosso, working with the young drivers, and moving them forward. He’s on a steep learning curve but the young drivers’ capacity to learn quickly and move forward is really impressive, so far we’re happy."
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