Formula 1 Team construction profile

Toro Rosso-Ferrari


Full Name	Scuderia Toro Rosso
Team Driver	Sebastien Buemi
Team Driver	Sebastien Bourdais
Chasis	Toro Rosso STR4
Tyres	Bridgestone

Background

Scuderia Toro Rosso (Italian for Team Red Bull) is one of two Formula One teams owned by Austrian beverage company Red Bull (The other is Red Bull Racing). It made its racing debut in the 2006 Formula One season, after Paul Stoddart sold his remaining interest in the Minardi team at the end of 2005 to Red Bull's owner, Dietrich Mateschitz, who subsequently struck a 50/50 joint-ownership deal with former F1 driver, Gerhard Berger, before the start of the season. In late November 2008, Red Bull regained total ownership of Toro Rosso after buying back Berger's share of the team.

Scuderia Toro Rosso is the sister team of Red Bull Racing, with the aim of developing the skills of promising drivers for the senior team.

Vitantonio Liuzzi scored the team'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 and 2008 seasons, Toro Rosso used Ferrari V8 engines, taking over the contract that their senior team broke from at the end of 2006. The team principal is Franz Tost, formerly of BMW's motor sport division. Its latest car, the STR3 is nearly identical to the Red Bull RB4, and both were designed by Adrian Newey.

The team's set 2008 driver lineup was Sebastian Vettel, third driver for BMW Sauber in 2006 before switching to a race seat at Toro Rosso midway through the 2007 season, and Sébastien Bourdais, the four-time winner of the Champcar World Series.