Overview

www.tororosso.com

Toro Rosso, known fully as Scuderia Toro Rosso, is an Italian Formula 1 team and is one of 2 teams owned by Austrian energy drinks company Red Bull. They purchased the former Minardi team in 2005 and the team debuted in 2006 with drivers Vitantonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed.

The team were formerly called "Minardi" who competed in 345 F1 races over 20 years. Boss Paul Stoddart said he had 41 offers to buy the team but said he wanted someone to take the team further. The deal Red Bull signed meant they had to keep the team based in Faenza, Italy, until at least 2007.

The team debuted at the Australian GP 2006 with drivers Vitantonio Liuzzi, Scott Speed and 3^rd driver Neel Jani. Liuzzi had raced in a few races in the 2005 F1 season for the parent Red Bull team, while Speed was part of the Red Bull young driver search in America.

The team had a string of mid teen finishes, with a best result of 8^th in the US GP for Tonio Liuzzi. 1 point in the whole season helped them finish 9^th in the constructors, only ahead of Midland and Super Aguri.

2007 brought a new engine supplier with the Ferrari V8, with Liuzzi and Speed retaining their drivers. Speed had a bad year, with some disappointing results which caused the American to be dropped, replaced by Sebastian Vettel. The team scored a best result of 4^th and 6^th in the Chinese Grand Prix for Vettel and Liuzzi, scoring 8 points. This boosted them to 7^th in the constructors.

2008 continued from the steady progression of 2007. Sebastian Bourdais joined Vettel at the team. The year saw a handful of points scoring with Vettel scoring best results of 3 fifth places, 2 sixth places and a win at the rain affected Italian Grand Prix after taking pole the day before. It was the first win for the team, as well as the whole Red Bull Racing franchise. Overall the team scored 39 points, finishing 6^th in the championship. This was 1 place ahead of the Red Bull senior team.

Vettel moved to Red Bull for 2009, so they brought in a new Sebastien. Sebastien Buemi replaced the German, with the Swiss making his debut in Australia. He partnered Sebastian Bourdais at the team, who knew it would be hard to beat 2008's results. The team had a few points scoring finishes in the early few races, before their progression went downhill. On July 16^th the team revealed Bourdais contract had been terminated due to poor results. They brought in youngster Jaime Alguersuari, who struggled with no F1 experience. Buemi scored a 7^th and 8^th place finish in the 2 final rounds, giving them 8 points. However due to a good performance from Force India in the latter stages of the season, they were relegated to 10^th and last in the standings with 8 points.

Buemi and Alguersuari were the team's partnership for 2010. The new points scoring system, from 1-10^th places meant the team had a better chance of scoring, with Alguersuari scoring his first points in Malaysia thanks to a 9th place. A 10^th place at his home race, Spain, and a 9^th at the last round were Alguersuari's only points finishes, with Buemi outperforming him. His best result of 8^th in Canada, along with a 9^th and 2 tenth places, meant the team finished 9^th in the standings, ahead of the new teams.

2011 was one of the team's best years. Despite them only finishing 8^th in the table they scored 41 points. They were seen as inconsistent and struggled in qualifying, but managed to score points even from 17^th or 18^th on the grid.  They really pushed forward and drivers Buemi and Alguersuari, with the latter scoring the team's best results. He scored 7^th place in both the Italian and Korean Grand Prix, along with 5 other points' scores. Buemi also improved, with 7 points scoring finishes and a best of 8^th in Australia and Hungary. The team often topped the speed traps, with the help of DRS progressing them up the field. Despite the impressive results, Alguersuari was replaced for 2012 by French rookie Jean Eric-Vergne and Buemi moving to Red Bull as their reserve driver, Daniel Ricciardo replacing him.