Toro Rosso F1 Team

The Toro Rosso team is a subsidiary of the Red Bull Racing team, and is run in partnership with former Formula One driver Gerhard Berger. The team was formed in 2005 when Red Bull purchased the Minardi team, and has since been used as a development platform for the Red Bull Racing team, which is regarded as the brand’s 1st team.

Headquarters: Faenza, Italy
Engine: Ferrari Type 056
Chassis: Toro Rosso STR5
F1 Debut: 2006 Bahrain Grand Prix
Drivers: Jaime Alguersuari, Sebastien Buemi

The Toro Rosso cars have been noted for their similarity to the Red Bull Racing Cars, a consequence of Adrian Newey designing both chassis. The similarities between the two teams end at the chassis and ownership, however, as Toro Rosso makes use of Ferrari engines whereas Red Bull uses the Renault V8.

Toro Rosso History

Toro Rosso is the direct descendant of the Minardi Formula One racing team. Despite participating in Formula One racing for two decades, Minardi never achieved notable success, and in 2005 Minardi owner Paul Stoddart made the decision to sell Minardi to a company capable of taking the team further in the sport, whilst maintaining its Italian base and identity.

Red Bull took over from Minardi in 2005, changing the name to Scuderia Toro Rosso to preserve the Italian identity of the team. This move was opposed by Minardi’s significant fan base, which petitioned for the team to maintain the Minardi name without success.

As a virtual development team for Red Bull Racing, Toro Rosso has done little to further Paul Stoddart’s dreams of seeing his team reach its full potential. The Toro Rosso cars have struggled to settle on a satisfactory engine, and have proved to be some of the most unreliable in Formula One racing, with drivers routinely failing to finish races due to technical difficulties.

Toro Rosso in Formula One

At present the Toro Rosso team does not represent a significant threat to the other teams in Formula One racing. The team’s highest ever finishing position of 7th place was achieved in 2007, while it has more frequently lurked in the bottom two ranked teams in the Constructors Championship.

Due to the provisions of the Concorde Agreement and its banning of customer cars, Red Bull’s owner, Dietrich Mateschitz, made the decision to put the Toro Rosso team up for sale in 2008. However, in 2009 Scuderia Toro Rosso went on to exceed its owner’s wildest expectations, finishing ahead of Red Bull racing in 6th place in the Constructors Championship, and claiming the first Grand Prix win for any Red Bull team when Sebastien Vettel emerged victorious at the Italian Grand Prix.

Formula One Rankings
Position Driver Pts
1Sebastian Vettel
(Red Bull-Renault)		392
2Jenson Button
(McLaren-Mercedes)		270
3Mark Webber
(Red Bull-Renault)		258
4Fernando Alonso
(Ferrari)		257
5Lewis Hamilton
(McLaren-Mercedes)		227
6Felipe Massa
(Ferrari)		118
7Nico Rosberg
(Mercedes GP)		89
8Michael Schumacher
(Mercedes GP)		76
9Adrian Sutil
(Force India-Mercedes)		42
10Vitaly Petrov
(Renault)		37
11Nick Heidfeld
(Renault)		34
12Kamui Kobayashi
(Sauber)		30
13Paul Di Resta
(Force India-Mercedes)		27
14Jaime Alguersuari
(Toro Rosso-Ferrari)		26
15Sebastien Buemi
(Toro Rosso-Ferrari)		15
16Sergio Perez
(Sauber)		14
17Rubens Barrichello
(Williams-Cosworth)		4
18Bruno Senna
(Renault)		2
19Pastor Maldonado
(Williams-Cosworth)		1
20Pedro de la Rosa
(Sauber)		0
21Jarno Trulli
(Lotus-Renault)		0
22Heikki Kovalainen
(Lotus-Renault)		0
23Vitantonio Liuzzi
(HRT-Cosworth)		0
24Jerome d'Ambrosio
(Virgin-Cosworth)		0
25Timo Glock
(Virgin-Cosworth)		0
26Daniel Ricciardo
(HRT-Cosworth)		0
27Narain Karthikeyan
(HRT-Cosworth)		0
28Karun Chandhok
(Lotus-Renault)		0
Back to top