Planet-F1

Toro Rosso

Thursday 9th November 2006

The Scuderia Toro Rosso team is proof that in Formula One it's money that really counts.

And now with some cash being plugged into the team thanks to its senior team, Red Bull, STR is already taking leaps and bounds - by its standards - up the order.

Although STR began its F1 career as the Minardi outfit in 1985, it was purchased by Red Bull at end of the 2005 season with the intention of running it as their B-team. The team was also given a new name, Scuderia Toro Rosso.

STR entered the 2006 F1 season with an unproven line-up of Tonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed - both rookies with either little or not F1 experience. It was a gamble that paid off the team, who did what Minardi could do - score points.

However, their first point of the season, which came from Speed's eighth placed finish in Australia, was taken away from them after the American was deemed to have overtaken David Coulthard under waved yellow flags. It was a major disappointment for both the team and the driver who went back to battling the Midland and Super Aguris out on the race-track.

Not content with that, though, it wasn't long before STR set their sights on their sister team Red Bull. Armed with better reliability and also periodic moments of superior speed, STR spent a large part of the latter part of the season challenging the two Red Bull drivers - and at times getting the better of them.

Liuzzi even managed to bag the team's first official point of the year with an eighth place at the United States Grand Prix.

And although it was the team's only point of the season, it did mean in one year STR had achieved more than Minardi had done in the previous three seasons.

Liuzzi even managed to bag the team's first official point of the year with an eighth place at the United States Grand Prix.

And although it was the team's only point of the season, it did mean in one year STR had achieved more than Minardi had done in the previous three seasons.

With the old Minardi legacy now a thing of the past, and armed with Ferrari power, the Scuderia Toro Rosso team expected more improvement that what they actually achieved in 2007.

Too many retirements and crashes from Scott Speed and Tonio Liuzzi marred the team's campaign with the low point coming at the European GP when both drivers spun off the track on the same corner and on the same lap in the wet.

The alleged physical altercation between Speed and team boss Franz Tost resulted in the American being axed from the team and BMW test driver Sebastian Vettel being called up to replace him.

Vettel's arrival sparked an upsurge in the team's performances as the German youngster pushed Liuzzi throughout the remaining seven grands prix, which saw Toro Rosso bag their first points of the season when both drivers finished in the top eight at the penultimate race. Vettel claimed fourth place, while Liuzzi finished P6 in the Japanese GP.

In 2008 Vettel remains at Toro Rosso where he'll partner Champ Car Champion Sebastien Bourdais as the team looks to improve on last year's results.