New Toro Rosso ‘ridiculously fast’ – Hamilton

Two more leading formula one drivers believe Toro Rosso is set for a strong season in 2011.

The Swiss newspaper Blick recently christened the small Faenza based team’s new Ferrari-powered STR6 a “Wunder Auto” after a good showing in testing.

“Toro Rosso looks reasonably strong in terms of consistency,” agreed Jenson Button last month.

At an event at Dunsfold Park aerodrome on Tuesday, Button’s McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton said teams such as Renault, Williams and Force India had also produced solid cars for 2011.

“And the Toro Rosso looks ridiculously fast,” said the Briton, having earlier used exactly the same description for Red Bull’s pace-setting RB7.

A few days ago, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso said similarly that Red Bull-owned Toro Rosso had made “significant progress” since last year.

Hamilton added: “They could be the most interesting one to watch.”

At the same time, both Button and Hamilton acknowledged the tough start to the life of McLaren’s new MP4-26, reckoning that Red Bull and Ferrari are out front at present.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel is quoted in the German press: “Ferrari have made a very strong impression.  It looks close between them and us.”

As for McLaren and Mercedes, he added: “It looks as though they are having a bit of trouble.”

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