This blog comes before most of the Formula 1 teams launch their 2013 cars and it got me thinking about the Red Bull feeder team Toro Rosso. Don't ask me how, my mind works in mysterious ways.
Toro Rosso entered Formula 1 in 2006 when the Minardi team sold it's last stock over to Dietrich Mateschitz who owns the Red Bull beverage company and Toro Rosso's parent team Red Bull Racing (now Infiniti Red Bull Racing). The concept behind the team was to provide talent for the championship running team Red Bull. This is known as a "feeder team." Running V10 Cosworth engines in the 2006 season was a slight hiccup because the rest of the field were using V8 engines. However Toro Rosso managed to get out of it by using their poor financial situation as an excuse but this did not give them an advantage. Instead, the rest of the grid had developed the V8 engines to the point where they were more effective. However for 2007 the team ditched Cosworth and bought Ferrari engines. After this they were known as Scuderia Toro Rosso, or STR for short.
Vitantonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed were the first two drivers after Liuzzi had a brief stint at Red Bull and Scott Speed was the selected driver from Red Bulls American Driver search. Neither driver made much of an impact and eventually Speed was replaced by none other than Sebastian Vettel. Vettel went on to get Toro Rosso's first and only race win in 2008 at Monza. His future success is objectional depending on how fickle you are.
The point of this blog is aimed at how Toro Rosso back their drivers. I feel sometimes it's unfair and often biased. It always seems to me that one driver is given a bigger back than the other. Take 2012 for example. Going back to 2011 before that, Daniel Ricciardo was given a break from being Toro Rosso test driver in 2010 and was handed a short spell driving for Hispania. He was dubbed the future Sebastian Vettel and there was a lot of hype surrounding him so no surprise he got a seat for Toro Rosso for the 2012 season. His partner was Jean-Éric Vergne, who had been the test driver in 2011. There was almost no mention of any future prospects for JEV, but presumably there shouldn't have to be any if you've been selected for Toro Rosso.
Yet despite the hype and media coverage surrounded his supposed future success, Ricciardo scored less points than his team mate. Granted he finished more races then Vergne and his scoring was more consistent, but Vergne scored higher points and in my opinion provide far more exciting moments. Ricciardo just appears cardboard in his driving, he's boring. Red Bull and Toro Rosso definately got it wrong when backing their drivers. It's also not the first time.
Despite scoring less points than his team mate, Jaime Alguersuari was a far more exciting driver than Sebastian Buemi (who was again supposed to be another Sebastian Vettel, although why anybody would want to be Sebastian Vettel is absolutely beyond me). Granted Buemi is now Red Bull test and reserve driver, Alguersuari is getting more running time when he tests for Pirelli, thus keeping him updated in a Formula 1 car. Had he got more of a backing from Toro Rosso he might even be in a full time drive now. These two drivers are also an example of how harsh and rash Toro Rosso can be. They both had decent seasons in 2011, but they were both discarded straight after whenever team principal Franz Tost decided that Toro Rosso were to become a young driver school. Does this mean that JEV and Ricciardo can be disposed of just as quickly? Only time can tell.
A possible solution to this is to adopt and operate an equal drivers policy. If you have no ambition to win world championships (Toro Rosso as a team overall) then why not say to both drivers "right, you're here to showcase your driving talents, show me what you've got," and then give each driver an equal playing field by giving them the same car parts, the same updates and development paths and parts and by telling them they are racing each other. Make it as even as is humanly possible for each of the drivers to see who really can be a future champion. That way there's no bias, no control and more importantly it'll provide real racing between two young stars. I think that can provide Toro Rosso with a platform to really prove their existence worth while.
You only need to go to the Toro Rosso website to see who has the bigger push. Ricciardo's photo is always on the site, and it's always him in interviews. But I understand some decisions may not ultimately rest in the hands of Toro Rosso and Franz Tost. Dietrich Mateschitz is a ruthless sports and Motorsport enthusiast, and more importantly a real winner at heart. There could be unbelievable pressure from him after the money he's invested in one driver over another and therefore he'd like to give him an advantage. But honestly I believe he'd like to see who's the best in an even playing field.
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