STR admits Monaco not ideal debut for STR3.

Scuderia Toro Rosso has confirmed that it intended to debut its 2008 car in Turkey this weekend, but has had to defer the STR3's first race appearance until round six, in Monaco, later this month.

Following Sebastien Bourdais' accident on the first day of group testing with the new car, the team has been in a race against time to salvage what it could from the wreck and build enough parts to ensure the STR3 could complete the Istanbul weekend, but gave up on its task earlier this week, preferring instead to give the STR2B one last run before being pensioned off.

"Everyone in the company has worked really hard to try and meet the deadline of running the new car in Turkey, but we had to make the tough call of delaying the arrival of STR3 by one more race," chief engineer Laurent Mekies confirmed, "The main reason is that we do not feel we have enough spare parts to run the new cars in a totally professional manner."

The decision means that the STR3 will now debut in Monaco which, according to Mekies, is not as glamorous as it seems.

"As one can imagine, given the unique nature of the Monaco track and the working conditions at the circuit, this is not an ideal venue to run a new car for the first time," he explained, "However, everyone is prepared to face the challenge and give it our best shot."

In the meantime, Toro Rosso is hoping that the STR2B will enjoy its final appearance, at the technically-demanding Istanbul Park circuit, this weekend, despite Bourdais never having been to the venue before.

"We have tried to work as much as we could off-track to get Sebastien to the right level of preparation for the coming race," Mekies revealed, "but, so far this year, he has
shown that he can adapt pretty quickly to a new track. Sebastian Vettel was already driving for us in Turkey last year - it was his second race with the team and he performed well there.

"This weekend, we will try and put together all our knowledge about the STR2B for this challenging track, which is one of the few where you can actually overtake other cars! Hopefully, we will have some good racing in Istanbul, so that we can end this car's career in style!"