TORO ROSSO FERRARI
--- TEAM INFO ---
TEAM OWNER - Franz Tost
TEAM COLOURS - Dark Blue, Claret, Gold
CAR - Scuderia Toro Rosso STR4
ENGINE SUPPLIER - Ferrari
TYRES - Bridgestone
TECHINCAL DIRECTOR(S) - Giorgio Ascanelli
MAJOR SPONSORS - Red Bull, Puma
--- STATS ---
FIRST SEASON - 2006
GRANDS PRIX - 53
WORLD DRIVERS TITLES - 0
WORLD CONSTRUCTORS TITLES - 0
WINS - 1
POLE POSITIONS - 1
POINTS SCORED - 47
--- DRIVERS ---
11 - Sebastien Bourdais (France)
12 - Sebastien Buemi (Switzerland)
TEST DRIVER - Jaime Alguersuari (Spain)
Last seasons big suprise package are back again and with a new driver lineup after the departure of their young starlet Sebastian Vettel to Red Bull's main team. But last year mainly thanks to Vettel, they more than gave their more illustrious rivals a run for their money and ended up being the top privateer team in 2008, this year though will be tough as with Vettel's departure, the team will go in being the only ones to field a rookie.
That rookie is Swiss youngster Sebastien Buemi, the first swiss driver in F1 since Jean Denis Deletraz raced for the Pacific team in 1995, he has shown good pace in the lower classes including a run to the runners-up spot in the F3 Euroseries in 2007 behind Romain Grosjean, his progress continued in GP2 in 2008 where he finished a creditable 6th in his rookie season in the category, now he gets his chance in the big time with Toro Rosso alongside Sebastien Bourdais. Bourdais had a very up and down, if not unspectacular debut campaign where he was overshadowed by Vettel, netherless he managed to put together a solid campaign, scoring points on his debut race (where he ran as high as 4th but ended up 7th) and qualifying well elsewhere, now with a season under his belt and now being burdened with number 1 status in the team, it will be interesting to see how Bourdais copes with the new found pressure.
The car itself is basically a Red Bull RB5 which has been re-worked in order for it to fit a Ferrari engine, otherwise its the same car with a different paint job. In my view, the targets for this team will be way way down on the highs of the previous season, Buemi has talent but it may take a while for him to get used to the new surroundings and with Brawn and Force India showing good competitive pace, the aim for Franz Tost and his team will probably be to avoid the wooden spoon.
2009 PREDICTION FOR TORO ROSSO
DRIVERS
Sebastien Bourdais - 18th
Sebastian Buemi - 20th
CONSTRUCTORS
10th
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