Scuderia Toro Rosso

Scuderia Toro Rosso (Italian for Team Red Bull) or just Toro Rosso is one of two Formula One teams owned by Austrian beverage company Red Bull. The other team is Red Bull Racing. Toro Rosso ran its first race in the 2006 season.

Toro Rosso-Ferrari

Full name	Scuderia Toro Rosso
Base	Faenza, Italy
Team principal(s)	Franz Tost
Technical director	Giorgio Ascanelli
Formula One World Championship Career
Debut	2006 Bahrain Grand Prix
Latest race	2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Races competed	268
Constructors' Championships	0
Drivers' Championships	0
Race victories	1
Pole positions	1
Fastest laps	1
2019 position	6th (85 points)

Toro Rosso is the sister team of Red Bull Racing. The goal is to use Toro Rosso to develop the skills of promising drivers for the Red Bull Racing. Vitantonio Liuzzi scored Roro Rosso's first point in its first season at the 2006 United States Grand Prix. The team's first pole position and victory were scored by Sebastian Vettel at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix.

For the 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 seasons, Toro Rosso used Ferrari engines. Toro Rosso started using the Ferrari engines when Red Bull Racing switched from Ferrari to Renault engines. Its 2009 car, the Toro Rosso STR4 was nearly identical to the Red Bull RB5. Both cars were designed by Adrian Newey.

Origins

See the main article: Minardi

Minardi had competed in Formula One from 1985 to 2005. Minardi had a large fan base, but they were one of the least competitive teams in the sport. The main reason for their lack of performance was a relatively small budget. Minardi owner Paul Stoddart said he had 41 offers to buy the team. Stoddart preferred to sell the team to someone who could "take it further" than he could. He also wanted an owner who would maintain the team in its traditional base in Italy.^[1] The terms of the deal with Red Bull included a requirement that the team must keep in Faenza, Italy until at least the 2007 season.

Red Bull decided to changed the Minardi name because of their sponsorship and marketing plans. Red Bull used the Italian language in the new name to hint at the team's Italian heritage. Red Bull changed the name of the team after taking control of the team to 'Scuderia Toro Rosso'.

Racing history

2006 season

Vitantonio Liuzzi at the Canadian Grand Prix

Vitantonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed were the 2006 race drivers, with Neel Jani filling the test/third driver role. Liuzzi had raced part time for Red Bull Racing in 2005, while Speed entered F1 following the Red Bull Driver Search in the United States. Jani was the test driver for Sauber Petronas in 2004.

The 2006 Toro Rosso chassis was a modified version of the 2005 Red Bull Racing RB1. Some teams felt that this infringed the rule that each team must design their own car. Toro Rosso claim that this design was first produced during 2004 by Jaguar Racing, Red Bull's predecessor. They believed that the design rights had belonged to the Ford Motor Company, Jaguar Racing's parent company before passing to Toro Rosso.

The new Formula One regulations for 2006 required new V8 engines. Toro Rosso was allowed to used Minardi's supply of power limited Cosworth 3 liter V10 engines. This option had been created to assist the less funded teams the expense of building new engines.^[2] Formula One allowing Toro Rosso to use this option after the Red Bull takeover caused friction with other teams, in particular Super Aguri and Midland. These teams felt that the engine gave Toro Rosso too much of an advantage. They relived that the concession to allow the team use the V10 engine was based on Minardi's poor financial situation, and should not have apply after the team was purchased by Red Bull.

2007 season

Vitantonio Liuzzi driving for the team at the Malaysian Grand Prix

For the 2007 season, Toro Rosso began using the Ferrari 056 V8 engine, taking over the contract that Red Bull Racing broke from by switching to Renault engines.

At the launch of the STR2 on 13 February, Gerhard Berger confirmed Liuzzi as a 2007 driver.^[3] In testing in Bahrain on 24 February, Scott Speed was confirmed as the team's second driver. Three-time Champ Car champion Sébastien Bourdais was the unofficial test driver several times during the season.

The 2007 season was generally disappointing. The team suffered poor reliability and driver errors that lead to a low number of race finishes. Following the European Grand Prix, Scott Speed was removed as a driver. He was replaced by BMW Sauber development driver Sebastian Vettel. Vettel was later confirmed as a driver for 2008.^[4]

At the Chinese Grand Prix, Toro Rosso scored their best results. Vettel finishing fourth and Liuzzi sixth, scoring eight points for the team. These were also the drivers' best finishes in Formula One. It was a big improvement over the preceding race. At the Japanese Grand Prix, Vettel crashed into Mark Webber's Red Bull under safety car conditions (full course yellow). Webber was running in second place, and Vettel was in third place. Liuzzi lost the possibility of scoring a point after a 25-second penalty. He was penalized for passing Adrian Sutil's Spyker for eighth place under a local yellow flag condition. The penalty dropped him to ninth place.

2008 season

Sebastian Vettel leads Sébastien Bourdais at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Scuderia Toro Rosso's drivers for 2008 were Sebastian Vettel and Sébastien Bourdais. Bourdais earned his first points in F1 with a 7th place finish at the Australian Grand Prix. Vettel scored his first points of the season with a 5th place finish at the Monaco Grand Prix.

The team pulled off a massive shock at the wet Italian Grand Prix. Vettel claiming a pole position and won the race. It was the first pole and win for both himself and Toro Rosso. This was also the first win for a Ferrari engine in a customer chassis. Vettel's performances earned him a place at Red Bull Racing for 2009.

2009 season

Jaime Alguersuari driving for Scuderia Toro Rosso at the Italian Grand Prix.

With Vettel moving to Red Bull Racing ^[5] Sébastien Buemi and Sébastien Bourdais were the Toro Rosso drivers for 2009. Before the season started, the team's boss Franz Tost said that it would be "difficult" to do as well as they did in the 2008 season.^[6] On 16 July, Toro Rosso announced that Bourdais' contract was terminated. On 20 July, the team announced that Jaime Alguersuari will replace Bourdais starting with the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The season ended with Toro Rosso finishing in last place in the championship. Force India was able to move ahead in the point race after finishing second in the Belgian Grand Prix. At the end of the season, Sébastien Buemi was able to score points in the final two races. Jaime Alguersuari failed to score any points in the season.

Controversy was present as whether or not the team threw away their chances by having two inexperienced drivers as essentially their car had the same DNA as what is said to have been the best on the grid, Redbull Racing's RB5.

2010

Sébastien Buemi testing the Toro Rosso STR5 during pre-season testing at Circuito de Jerez.

Scuderia Toro Rosso confirmed that they would keep Sébastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari for 2010. Under the new regulations they also had to build and design their own car without help from Red Bull Technology, the teams first since Minardi. Alguersuari scored the first points of his career finishing ninth at the Malaysian Grand Prix. They went on to perform poorly throughout the season occasionally mixing it with the saubers, Force Indias and Vitaly Petrov. However they were continually the 'driver' who went out of the first qualifying with the three new teams.

Long-term future

The 2008 contract between the FIA and the Formula One teams outlawing customer cars starting in 2010. Because of this, Red Bull put the Toro Rosso team up for sale in March 2008. They had hoped to sell the team by the end of the 2009 season. Until the team is sold, Toro Rosso will continue in its present form.On the 3rd of January 2011 rumours spread that a buyer had been found.^[7]

Sponsorship

Sports sponsorship is a major part of Red Bull's marketing strategy. Scuderia Toro Rosso is not the first sports team to be bought and completely renamed. The same was done for Red Bull Racing (formerly Jaguar Racing), the Austrian football club Red Bull Salzburg (formerly SV Austria Salzburg), Austrian Ice Hockey team Red Bull Salzburg EC and MLS' Red Bull New York (previously Metrostars).

Other current sponsors and suppliers include Hangar-7, Volkswagen, Advanti Racing (wheel), USAG, Magneti Marelli, Advanti Racing, Siemens and Hexagon Metrology.

Complete Formula One results

See the main article: Toro Rosso Grand Prix results

Year	Name	Car	Engine	Tyres	No.	Drivers	Points	WCC
2006	Scuderia Toro Rosso	STR1	Cosworth TJ2005 3.0 V10	M	20. 21.	Vitantonio Liuzzi Scott Speed	1	9th
2007	Scuderia Toro Rosso	STR2	Ferrari 056 2006 2.4 V8	B	18. 19. 19.	Vitantonio Liuzzi Scott Speed Sebastian Vettel	8	7th
2008	Scuderia Toro Rosso	STR2B STR3	Ferrari 056 2007 2.4 V8	B	14. 15.	Sébastien Bourdais Sebastian Vettel	39	6th
2009	Scuderia Toro Rosso	STR4	Ferrari 056 2008 2.4 V8	B	11. 11. 12.	Sébastien Bourdais Jaime Alguersuari    Sébastien Buemi	8	10th
2010	Scuderia Toro Rosso	STR5	Ferrari 056 2009 2.4 V8	B	16. 17.	Sébastien Buemi Jaime Alguersuari	13	9th
2011	Scuderia Toro Rosso	STR6	Ferrari 056 2010 2.4 V8	P	18. 19.	Sébastien Buemi Jaime Alguersuari	41	8th
2012	Scuderia Toro Rosso	STR7	Ferrari 056 2011 2.4 V8	P	16. 17.	Daniel Ricciardo Jean-Éric Vergne	26	9th
2013	Scuderia Toro Rosso	STR8	Ferrari 056 2012 2.4 V8	P	18. 19.	Jean-Éric Vergne Daniel Ricciardo	33	8th
2014	Scuderia Toro Rosso	STR9	Renault Energy F1-2014 1.6 V6 t	P	25. 26.	Jean-Éric Vergne Daniil Kvyat	30	7th
2015	Scuderia Toro Rosso	STR10	Renault Energy F1-2015 1.6 V6 t	P	33. 55.	Max Verstappen Carlos Sainz Jr.	67	7th
2016	Scuderia Toro Rosso	STR11	Ferrari 060 1.6 V6 t	P	26. 33. 55.	Daniil Kvyat Max Verstappen Carlos Sainz Jr.	63	7th
2017	Scuderia Toro Rosso	STR12	Toro Rosso 1.6 V6 t[a]	P	10. 26. 28. 55.	Pierre Gasly Daniil Kvyat Brendon Hartley[b] Carlos Sainz Jr.	53	7th
2018	Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda	STR13	Honda RA618H 1.6 V6 t	P	10. 28.	Pierre Gasly Brendon Hartley	33	9th
2019	Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda	STR14	Honda RA619H 1.6 V6 t	P	10. 23. 26.	Pierre Gasly Alexander Albon Daniil Kvyat	85	6th
Source:[8]

Notes

1. In 2017, Toro Rosso used Renault R.E.17 power units. For sponsorship purposes, these engines were rebadged as "Toro Rosso".
2. Brendon Hartley was assigned the number 39 for the 2017 United States Grand Prix before he selected a permanent race number.

References

1. Irvine in talks over Minardi sale news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2 August 2006.
2. Press Information - FIA Formula One World Championship October 22, 2004 www.fia.com Archived 2006-03-14 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 26 April 2006.
3. "Liuzzi to race for Toro Rosso". GPUpdate.net. 2007-02-13. Retrieved 2007-02-13.
4. "Vettel to race for Toro Rosso in 2008". autosport.com. 2007-08-02. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
5. "Vettel confirmed at Red Bull for 2009". autosport.com. 2008-07-17. Retrieved 2008-07-17.
6. "Toro Rosso last to unveil new car". BBC Sport. 2009-03-09. Retrieved 2009-03-09.
7. "Toro Rosso team put up for sale". autosport.com. 2007-03-18. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
8. "Toro Rosso – Seasons". StatsF1. Retrieved 20 February 2020.

Other websites

• Official Site
• Red Bull F1 Portal Archived 2010-02-25 at the Wayback Machine
• Official Picture Website Archived 2010-11-17 at the Wayback Machine

Preceded by Minardi	Formula One constructor 2006-present	Succeeded by none