Information about Toro Rosso

History of Toro Rosso in F1

Toro Rosso first started racing in Formula One in 2006, making them the second youngest team to compete in this year’s championship. Toro Rosso was created after Red Bull purchased the Minardi team in late 2005 with Red Bull acting as their parent team. In 2006, retired F1 driver, Gerhard Berger, bought a 50% stake in the team but sold his share back to Red Bull in November 2008. 2007 saw a disappointing 13 retirements in the first 10 Grands Prix. 2008 was a massive improvement and the team celebrated their first pole position and win in Italy thanks to Sebastian Vettel and they finished above parent team Red Bull in sixth position.

Toro Rosso information

The base of Toro Rosso is in Faenza, Italy, and they use the trusty Bridgestone Potenza tyres. They boast a Ferrari engine with a STR4 chassis and they have so far claimed one win and one pole position under team principal, Gerhard Berger. They welcome a new driver for the 2009 campaign, Sebastian Buemi, who joins last year’s racer Sebastian Bourdais.

Technical details and statistics

The Toro Rosso team follow similar paths in development to the Red Bull team and use the improve balance and cooling with the horn-like winglets first used by their parent team. The front bridge wing is wider for their 2009 campaign, with the intention to make the front-end handling sharper on the high-downforce circuits.

Base: Faenza, Italy
Team principal: Franz Tost
Main drivers: Sebastian Buemi and Sebastian Bourdais
Engine: Ferrari
Chassis: STR4
Tyres: Bridgestone Potenza
Debut F1 season: 2006
World Championship titles: 0
Highest race finish: 1st (x1)
Pole positions: 1
Fastest lap times: 0

Driver no.1: Sebastien Bourdais

Sebastian Bourdais was born in Le Mans, famous for its car racing roots, and in 1995 he competed in the Formula Campus Series. The next year he switched to Formula Renault where he stayed for two seasons. 1998 saw the French driver move up to the French Formula Three, where he was crowned rookie of the year and later the champion in 1999. After competing in various campaigns and races, Bourdais starting testing for the Arrows team in 2002 and was named as a driver for 2003. Unfortunately, the team went under and after testing for Renault, he competed in the Champ Cars with three victories in his first season and the title in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. Toro Rosso provided him with his Formula One debut last year and he has been given a driving seat for the 2009 campaign, after making slow progress towards the season’s finale.

Statistics
Nationality: French
Date of birth: 28/02/1979
World Championship titles: 0
Number of Grands Prix won: 0
Pole positions: 0
Career points: 4
Podiums: 0

Driver no.2: Sebastien Buemi

Sebastien Buemi was born in Aigle and progressed to single seater racing in 2004, when he finished third in the ADAC BMW series. 2004 was a good year for the Swiss driver who finished as a runner up and won seven races in the same competition. In 2006, Buemi raced in the F3 Euroseries, Formula Renault and the Formula Three Championships and in 2007, he finished second in the Formula Three Euroseries before testing for Red Bull. Last year, Buemi was a reserve driver for the Red Bull team and came sixth in the GP2 series and second in the GP2 Asia. He has been named as the driver to partner Sebastian Bourdais for the 2009 campaign, which will be his debut season as a main driver.

Statistics
Nationality: Swiss
Date of birth: 31/10/1988
World Championship titles: 0
Number of Grands Prix won: 0
Pole positions: 0
Career points: 0
Podiums: 0