Toro Rosso has just one upgraded aerodynamic package at the Circuit of the Americas this weekend, which will be tested by Pierre Gasly. The Frenchman will run the upgrades during Friday practice before it is decided if they will be used for the remainder of the weekend.
Toro Rosso has been lacking in development this year, failing to bring updates to many of the races in 2018. However, it has arrived in the US with a new front wing and revised floor, plus other small bodywork changes. Gasly's teammate Brendon Hartley will not have any of the upgrades available to him.
"I think it's yet to be decided, to be honest," the Kiwi said when asked if Gasly would use the upgrades throughout the weekend. "Obviously they have to make sure it works, but it's a big one, there's a lot of new parts on the car. [We are] just trying to rectify all the issues we've had all year - if it works, it's exciting for the rest of the season."
Toro Rosso introduced an upgrade in Austria earlier in the season, but the new parts failed to gain the Red Bull junior squad time on the track. Last time out in Japan, its engine supplier Honda brought an upgrade which saw both cars qualify inside the top ten.
"We haven't had new parts on the car for a long time and the team have been working hard in the last few months," Gasly said. "Especially since the upgrade in Austria that didn't work. They have changed the whole process and way of working."
He added: "Now we are in a pretty good situation with the engine upgrades, the chassis upgrades. We saw the performance we managed to do when we extracted the full potential out of the car in Suzuka we know we can be in the fight there.
"Now it's about finding a bit more consistency from one track to another and hopefully with the upgrade it will give us a bit more consistency with performance."
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