Verstappen: We have found one second per lap with Ferrari engine

Toro Rosso’s new Formula 1 car is up to a second per lap faster than its 2015 predecessor, as the Red Bull owned team switches from Renault power and returns to Ferrari engines for the forthcoming season.

That is the astonishing claim of meteoric F1 teenager Max Verstappen, ramping up expectations of a very good 2016 campaign for the junior Red Bull team.

Albeit with one of the best chassis on the grid, the Faenza based team struggled with its Renault power unit last year but has switched to 2015-spec Ferrari engines for 2016.

“It looks very good. It seems that we are eight tenths to one second [per lap] faster than last year,” Verstappen told the Dutch source Ziggo Sport.

Verstappen, 18, explained, “That’s a lot. We will probably make a bigger step than the teams that are simply getting a new version of their (existing) engine for 2016. For us, the engine is a big change.”

Toro Rosso are no strangers to Ferrari power as they in fact scored their one and only grand prix win when Sebastian Vettel powered to victory at Monza in 2008 = it was also the occasion of the Red Bull organisation’s first ever Formula 1 win.