Toro Rosso: Living in the Shadow of Red Bull Racing
It’s natural for siblings to be jealous of their older brother and sisters – especially if their older relatives have had success. It’s not easy being overshadowed by someone else and having to deal with expectations set by others. Unfortunately for the Toro Rosso Formula 1 team, that’s the exact situation that it currently faces as it constantly deals with living in the shadow of its more successful sister team Red Bull Racing.
While the Red Bull Racing team has become one of the “Big Three” teams in Formula 1 racing and staked a claim alongside such leading teams as Ferrari and McLaren, Toro Rosso has been relegated to also-ran status. This is partially by design – the team is meant to be a proving ground for young drivers and a stepping stone to the main Red Bull Racing team. While the tiered system has paid dividends for Red Bull Racing, it has also reinforced the perception of Toro Rosso as a second-class operation.
The team debuted in 2006, one year after the Red Bull Racing team launched in Formula 1. It was actually not a new team but a rebranding of the Minardi team, which was sold to Red Bull Racing at the end of the 2005 season after struggling with finances for years. The idea for the Red Bull Racing team was simple but also irked some people, especially those who thought that the team’s use of a modified version of the Red Bull chassis violated the spirit of the Concorde Agreement.
If Toro Rosso was using the “hand-me-down” chassis and other equipment from Red Bull Racing, it certainly didn’t impact the quality of their performance. The team scored a point its first season when Vitantonio Liuzzi finished eighth in the 2006 U.S. Grand Prix. In 2008, the team actually managed to finish ahead of Red Bull Racing in the Constructors’ Championship as Sebastian Vettel’s shock victory in Italy helped propel the team to sixth place in the final standings, one position ahead of its “big sister” team Red Bull Racing.
In fact, that performance might have been the defining moment in the relationship between the two teams. Vettel was “promoted” from Toro Rosso to Red Bull Racing after the 2008 season and has gone on to become one of the bright young stars of the sport, winning six times in the last season and a half. He and Mark Webber teamed to help Red Bull finish second in the 2009 Constructors’ Championship while Toro Rosso fell back to 10th.
The 2010 season has also been a struggle for the Toro Rosso team although this has partially been attributable to growing pains. The team designed its own car from the ground up for the first time before the start of the 2010 season, and has struggled at times getting it up to speed. The lack of in-season testing has hurt not only relatively young drivers Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari but also the team’s ability to make changes and improve their new car design.
Team principal Franz Tost admitted after the British Grand Prix that the transition has been difficult: the team is ninth in points after Buemi and Alguersuari finished 12th and 17th in the British Grand Prix respectively. However, Tost is also confident about the future – the team is using a new front wing for the German Grand Prix and has announced that both drivers will be back with the team for the 2011 campaign.
However, the question is whether both Buemi and Alguersauri want to come back. Alguersauri was quoted ahead of the German Grand Prix as saying he was “sceptical” about coming back next season – ironic since Buemi has outperformed him this season. Being the second-class citizen within your own race team can be confusing – something everyone at Toro Rosso has had to deal with in the past.
Tags: