Kimi Raikkonen: Where To Put His Signature?

Following a public telling off on his birthday, harsh comments made over the radio after a dreadful qualifying session and intense media speculation about an impending 'gap year' it looks as if Fernando Alonso is heading for the exit on his Ferrari career.

Usually, it's Felipe Massa driving to keep his seat but this year the tables have been switched. Of course Massa isn't safe either, and there is the possibility of both long term men leaving the team, opening an unprecedented two driver vacancy search. And of course there is one man on everyone's mind for at least one roll.

Kimi Raikkonen may or may not have lost the Red Bull drive, he may have turned it down or Red Bull may be looking for a long term deal with Daniel Ricciardo. I'm not so glad Kimi missed out on this opportunity. Raikkonen's problems stem from bad Saturday performances in the Lotus, so if the chance comes when you can drive the best Saturday car on the grid, would you not take it? 

As I said, it may have been out of Raikkonen's hands. The one thing I don't buy is this term; 'longevity.' It doesn't matter if you want to look to book a long term option, offer a longer contract then. It's easy to secure new drivers, we're always complaining about the vast number of young talent coming through. Plus (for example), if you could have Raikkonen for two years and then someone like Jules Bianchi for the future, surely that would be better than hiring Bianchi outright.

It's not that I'm annoyed at Ricciardo getting the Red Bull seat, at the end of the day that's what Toro Rosso is there for. It would just have been better for Kimi to have a better qualifying car which would knock Vettel off that smug perch of his.

I think for the sole reason of the Saturday, Kimi should definitely make the move to Ferrari. I know it's not exactly a pole sitter but it's better than fighting to get in to Q3.

Fernando Alonso hasn't exactly had the most successful time at Ferrari. Yes he's won races but that's not enough when you're driving for the most successful team in F1 history. You need to win World Championship's. Kimi Raikkonen was the last man to win a World Championship at Ferrari. Vise versa, Alonso was the last man to win a World Championship at Enstone, makes sense to return them both back to whence they came.

I know everyone keeps going on about the relaxed atmosphere at Enstone and how beneficial it is for Kimi but look what it has done for him, they let James Allison go, resulting in a Grand Prix winning car slipping down the grid. That's even more reason for Kimi to return home, he'll be reunited with James Allison for the all important 2014 regulation changing season.

Whether he's partnered with Massa, Alonso or even Nico Hulkenberg, The Iceman needs to think about how long he has left in the sport. As much as it pains me to say, he is getting on a bit. Maybe Lotus's plans go beyond Kimi's limit in the sport. 

The only scenario I wouldn't like to see is an Alonso-Raikkonen pairing. That cannot and won't work.  It would be too volatile and would only aid Adrian Newey's dominance.

It wouldn't surprise me to see Kimi sign on for a couple more years at Lotus, but it would disappoint me to see him make the same mistake twice. But Kimi Raikkonen is no ordinary driver, he knows what is best for him, and the teams are tripping over each other to sign him. He holds the key to winning the title again. Let's hope he unlocks the red door.

2013: Belgian Grand Prix: Qualifying

The Formula 1 season comes back with a bang this weekend at one of the most historical tracks of all time. Sebastian Vettel looks extremely quick this weekend so far but he'll have some competition from the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton too.

Q1 - After a relatively dry weekend, Q1 gets off to a wet start with all cars starting out on the green wall intermediate tyres.

The biggest shock this weekend was the fact that both the Marussia's and Caterham's van Der Garde made it through to Q2! Fantastic job from both especially the Caterham team who put their man on slicks. This meant both Toro Rosso driver's had to bow out, not very good for Daniel Ricciardo considering the media circus around him. If you can't handle the media now, you are not suited for Red Bull.

Another point to talk about was the incident with Force India's Paul di Resta, near the end of the session he went off track at the bus stop chicane and re-joined the track in front of another car. It may occur a penalty afterwards.

OUT - MAL, VER, RIC, BOT, GUT, PIC

Q2 - If Q1 was full of excitement for you, Q2 was the complete opposite. Not much drama occurring until the very end of the session.

Despite taking up their predicted bottom three places, the back markers secure their best grid starts of their career so far.

OUT - HUL, SUT, PER, VDG, BIA, CHI

Q3 - Eddie Jordan thought Raikkonen was going to snatch pole position, which made me very very happy!

The rain started to occur in Sector 3 straight away when 9 of the 10 cars lined up to get out. First it started out as spits, the the heavens opened and all cars headed in for inters. Force India kept di Resta in but as the rest pulled in to change their tyres, Paul headed straight out for the optimum track conditions.

For most of the session it looked as though he had pulled off a master play, but once the other guys got their tyres warmed up it all fell in place, first Nico Rosberg got it, then Mark Webber, then Vettel but the man on pole for the 4th time in a row will be Lewis Hamilton. I am sick of hearing him say he is so surprised, you're not fooling anyone we know you are quick and so do you... Just knock it off Lewis!

Only Spa could throw up such a drama filled GP weekend, and it's only Saturday. Anybody thinking Spa should come off the calendar needs their head looked at.

I'm very glad Force India listened to Paul, they wanted to send him out with the rest but Paul suggested inters and it worked well for him. And it's all on him, he deserves 100% of the glory.

You can bet tomorrow will be the best race of the season so far.

RESULTS:
1. Hamilton 2:01.012s
2. Vettel
3. Webber
4. Rosberg
5. di Resta
6. Button
7. Grosjean
8. Raikkonen
9. Alonso
10. Massa
11. Hulkenberg
12. Sutil
13. Perez
14. van der Garde
15. Bianchi
16. Chilton
17. Maldonado
18. Vergne
19. Ricciardo
20. Bottas
21. Gutierrez
22. Pic

7 Most Impressive Drivers So Far: Daniel Ricciardo

When I set out to write this thing, I had intended not to post two drivers from the same team but I really had no other choice because as much as I prefer Jean-Eric Vergne, I still really like Daniel Ricciardo.

As previously mentioned when I covered Vergne at the start of the week, I have been impressed with both Toro Rosso driver's this season. With Mark Webber opting to leave Formula 1 at the end of the year, after titan names like Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso Red Bull have been considering their sister team for younger talent.

As time goes on and as Spa looms upon us, the odds tell us that Red Bull will announce their new driver for next season at the weekend, but this is still speculation and not my opinion. German and Finnish newspapers seemed to have gotten mixed up in their media circus as one said Kimi was going nowhere and the other said he's signed the Red Bull contract. Today his manager has said he will not be joining Red Bull.

The way Alonso is getting on, it looks as though he wants out of Ferrari, but I honestly can't see Sebastian Vettel liking that too much, he'll probably run and cry to Helmut Marko if Alonso steps anywhere near a Red Bull building. 

That only leaves two people and considering the hype has always surrounded Ricciardo and not Vergne, despite the Frenchman being more successful, it looks as if Ricciardo is stepping up in the world for 2014.

So hypothetically, what can Ricciardo bring to Red Bull that Mark Webber lacked?

Fantastic qualifying. He has made it into Q3 four times this season and has scored well in two of the races where he started quite high up on the grid. If he hopes to better Vettel he'll need to do this on a consistent basis.

There's not that much difference between Webber and Ricciardo. Both Australian's are great fun, they both have fantastic personalities and smiles, the fans love them and they are both dedicated drivers. I just worry that Ricciardo will be bred as another number 2. 

It could be a totally different story when he gets there. He could turn up to race one next year and take the whole world by storm. Two years separate him and Vettel, so if there's anything Vettel can do, Ricciardo should be able to do it just as well in a Newey designed car.

Let's just hope Red Bull learnt the meanings of the words 'biased' and 'equality' before next season.

7 Most Impressive Drivers So Far: Jean-Eric Vergne

When Mark Webber announced he was leaving Formula 1 at the end of the year, speculation immediately turned to the sister Red Bull team Toro Rosso and their young talents.

Despite scoring more points than Daniel Ricciardo this season, Jean-Eric Vergne has failed to finish four races this season while Ricciardo has only retired from two, one being Monaco where he was shafted majorly. It is because of this and Ricciardo's supreme qualifying results that has saw Jean-Eric Vergne being overlooked for the Red Bull seat.

Rumours in the world of F1 have suggested that heavyweights such as Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso have pushed JEV off the short-list entirely, and looks to be staying with Toro Rosso next season.

To me it's a huge shame that the Red Bull hierarchy (Christian Horner, Adrian Newey, Helmut Marko and The Godfather, Dietrich Mateschitz) have chosen to review Ricciardo's progress rather than JEV's.

Regular readers will be aware that I like Ricciardo and have nothing other than positive things to say about the young man. That being said 10 out of 10 times I would pick Jean-Eric Vergne for the simple season of him scoring more points. I think over the course of a season, JEV has the energy and the will to provide over an entire season. This was always Mark Webber's problem, he would do well in parts but under perform in others.

While he may not have been a superstar in 2013, Vergne has definitely continued to deliver time and time again and even though he looks to have lost out, he still remains committed to his own personal cause.  

The Story So Far... Part Two

Last time out, I covered the progress of the majority of the rookie drivers in the Marussia and Caterham teams, along with Valtteri Bottas and his experienced team mate Pastor Maldonado in the Williams.

The midfield last season was extremely tight with Sauber making an immense leap forward in terms of pace and podium finishes. Force India showed us how far they have come and Toro Rosso put their young talent on display with just the one driver breaking through. All these teams (excluding Toro Rosso) have swapped about drivers but no driver change was as big when it was announced Lewis Hamilton would take over from Michael Schumacher who was forced into retirement by the move. 

Toro Rosso
The Red Bull feeder team has always been known for hiring rookies to promote to the bigger team, but in recent years they have failed to find any talent worth of replacing Mark Webber.

Last year, Daniel Ricciardo was heavily promoted as the more talented driver but he was consistently beaten by Jean-Eric Vergne's driving ability. This year the team has made a much improved leap forward, the same can be said for both drivers.

Eventually, Toro Rosso will ditch these two boys, I reckon they won't have bother finding work in Formula 1.

Daniel Ricciardo
His season didn't get off to the best start with the first two races, but his qualifying magic was duly present in China this year when he qualified 7th and finished 7th. Usually when a team achieves that kind of result on Saturday, it turns out to be a nightmare on Sunday, so he done a great job holding it all up.

With more people noticing JEV's talents, the pressure has been lifted off Daniel, which can only be a good thing.

He needs to focus on trying to beat his team mate. When a seat eventually becomes vacant at Red Bull, this is how he will be judged, and at the minute, the ball is in JEV's court.

Jean-Eric Vergne
I have always thought JEV (great nickname) has been a great driver. Considering he's only 3 points off last season's total already speaks for itself.

His qualifying performances have improved quite dramatically, and his scoring points more consistently is achievable because of a great car.

He is the ideal candidate to succeed Mark Webber because he has no ego and a great fan base. Should he keep this up, championship opportunities will be plentiful.

Force India
Me and this team did not get off to the best start this year. The fact they waited until the last minute to announce their second driver was extremely disrespectful.

When Adrian Sutil was unveiled, an opportunity had been missed in the form of Jules Biachi. His raw pace should have been shown in this car, not a lacklustre Marussia.

Monaco was a high point for the team with both drivers proving overtaking is possible.

Adrian Sutil
Instead of a world championship, Sutil has something more unique to his name, an ASBO. I'm not a fan of Sutil or second chances. The fact he got one annoys me when there were better options.

It's hard to argue though that this driver decision didn't work. So far he has proved he can still compete with the best that the midfield has to offer, and staying out of the spotlight has not hurt his reputation.

It's hard to say what's in store for him. The fact he has only ever driven for Force India (and their two previous outfit names) has to say something about what other teams think of him. His aim for the season should be to stay out of Paul's way.

Paul di Resta
2013 was a great start for the Scot, but then someone in his team said "let's f--k everything up." Seriously though the amount of mistakes made by his garage is ridiculous.

Then people criticise Paul for hitting out at them?! He has every right to be outraged. di Resta is going places in the world, but he is being let done by his own team. Engineers being paid thousands and then not being able to count and do their job?!

Despite all this, Paul has scored points in every round bar Malaysia. The battle is equal between him and Sutil so far, but as the season progresses so will Paul. In addition, the team will need to clean up their act pronto.

Sauber
The Swiss team undoubtedly managed to steal raw talent from Force India by recruiting Nico Hulkenberg. Granted the start to their season got off to an awful start for many reasons, Nico managed to fight back before falling into another slump.

I predicted this before the start of the season. Sauber tend to have issues when carrying over momentum from one season to another. After reaching podium heights last year, they have only managed to score 5 points so far. 

The biggest mistake was not letting go of Sergio Perez, but rather Kamui Kobayashi. The Japanese driver had huge talent but suffered at the hands of poor set up. They miss him greatly and instead, they hired what can only be described as a disaster.

Esteban Gutierrez 
The aforementioned disaster comes in the form of this furry (look at his eyebrows) little Mexican.

Like Perez before him, Sauber brought him in as the Mexican government funds the young driver, making him an extreme pay driver.

Let me assure you, NOTHING has payed off. He has proven to be an absolute danger to everyone around him. If he's not crashing into barriers he's crashing into title contenders such as Kimi Raikkonen.


He seems to have no awareness and once he's in the car, he acts like a newborn puppy, almost scared of his surroundings. Not to mention he's not even come close to scoring any points.

My hope is that he will be replaced soon. I can think of a number of better candidates, particularly Caterham's Heikki Kovalainen. His only purpose is bound to be his cash flow. Theey're probably keeping him around in order to gain enough money for next year, whenever Krazy Kob comes back (hopefully).

Nico Hulkenberg
The words; 'future world champion' come to mind, although that's based on his previous performances, this year it has not been great, that can be put down to the team though but not all the bucks can be passed.

He has been incredibly quiet this year, mostly scrapping from the back, very little opportunity to showcase true talent. He slumped after a double points finished but looked to be on the mend before he struck out in Canada. 

The move from Force India has not prospered for him at all and I feel bad for him. The only thing keeping Nico in the game is his dreadful team mate.

Just wait for Brazil though whenever Sebastian Vettel is trying to keep up with him around Interlagos!

Mercedes
The decision not to retain Michael Schumacher last year was painful. Love him or hate him, not hearing the name is absolutely crap.

Michael's departure was only the beginning of a board revolution. Followed out the door shortly by Norbert Haug, big names like Toto Wolff, Niki Lauda and reportedly, Paddy Lowe all joined to create an all star package of money, personality and brains. Team principle Ross Brawn has supposedly been cut out of the picture. His departure is still not for certain.

Despite the heavy hitters added to the background, the biggest talent on the grid joined (Fernando Alonso is all tied up at Ferrari) in the form of Lewis Hamilton.

I'm not one bit ashamed to admit I said that Mercedes were going to buckle under the weight of their own ambition this year and to be fair, the first two races they did.

Then the string of pole positions came. I was proven wrong, they had one lap speed. But race pace? Dreadful. 

Nobody could have predicted that they would be involved in the biggest scandal so far this year, but I'll have more on tyre gate soon.

Lewis Hamilton
The move away from McLaren must have hurt Lewis at a personal level. But there is no doubt it was a lucky one. He moved from disaster into an environment where he can be Lewis.

He's still looking for this first Mercedes win, but his pole positions were quite frequent. It's just the cars awful ability to look after the tyres. The situation really came home in Barcelona when he snapped back saying [to his engineer] "I can't go any slower."

Considering the majority of the rest of the season is filled with permanent race tracks (harder on tyre wear) he will struggle to find that first win. Rest assure, it will happen.

The best thing about Lewis this season is his new dog, Roscoe. SO ADORABLE (I'm a dog lover).

Nico Rosberg
I am very, very glad Nico got the first win for the all new Mercedes this year. There was too much hype and attention over Lewis. Autosport at a four page article nearly every week about him and it got sickening.

Nico managed to achieve three consecutive pole positions and the (supposed) biggest win of the year at Monaco, thirty years after his father. 

The season has been great to him so far. His tyre management is significantly better than Lewis's, although a lot off the field.

Backing both drivers never worked for Mercedes in the past, but it's not possible to back Nico over Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher, that was never going to happen. Solace should be found in what he has achieved so far. Moving to another team around Mercedes where he is the number one focus would definitely benefit his career.

Remember, McLaren will be joining forces with Honda again and even though I am sceptical, it could bring back wonderful feelings to the team. I don't think they will want to keep Jenson Button or Perez around any longer. 

Nico Rosberg could easily find his Nirvana at McLaren.

2013 Chinese Grand Prix - Qualifying

"I wondered why Helmut Marko was running about with a hoover... "

First live qualifying session live on the BBC, and I have to say they done a great job. Granted they dwelled on the obvious team orders a lot, but that's to be expected after what the puppet (Sebastian Vettel) said yesterday. 

Before I start my report just a quick note; the yellow walled tyre makes its debut this weekend and the early signs were not great. Teams reported that they fell off the cliff immediately, Sergio Perez spun off twice and Jenson Button locked up so hard he punctured the tyre, adding to McLaren's woes.

Q1 - Five minutes into the session, and not one car made its way out. It wasn't until nine minutes that Jules Bianchi decided to set the first pace, and what a lap. Not only did he beat both Caterhams and his team mate by large margins, he posted a quicker first lap than both the Toro Rosso's! This young man has pace and is certainly making the most of his second chance. One of the more annoying points today was the shout out from thug-life himself Adrian Sutil, who tried to land Kimi Raikkonen in bother AGAIN, saying the Finn was impeding him. Nothing was said about it, and my opinion of Sutil has dropped again.

Valtteri Bottas waited far too long to go out, if he doesn't give himself a chance, he'll never have a good shot at points. Esteban Gutierrez is not helping Sauber's decision to chose him over a particular crazy Asian driver. He's been nothing but a disappointment and needs to start finding his pace. I'd love the designers of Caterham to answer this question: Why oh why do you have them STUPID things below the mirrors?! They hare clearly no benefit if everybody around you are seconds ahead!!!! Get it sorted soon!

OUT - BOT, GUT, BIA, CHI, PIC, VDG

Q2 - This session provided further issues for the Red Bull team. Mark Webber had to stop his car after he had ran out of fuel on track. The worry was they wouldn't have enough to provide a sample to the FIA and the decision was in limbo for some time. Eventually news broke that the team were unable to provide the sample, therefore Mark will be starting at the back of the grid. Funny that it happened to Mark and not the puppet. I wondered why Helmut Marko was running about with a hoover... 

One driver worth mentioning was a guy who I have slated as being slow compared to his team mate, but my first slice of humble pie is about to be eaten; take a bow Daniel Ricciardo! When Button was told about the remaining top 10, his reaction was exactly similar to mine: "Ricciardo, WOW!"

OUT - DIR, PER, SUT, WEB, MAL, JEV

Q3 - My second slice of humble pie goes back to the start of the season. I was a firm believer in Mercedes being an absolute flop. As of yet, I haven't said anything but I must admit I have been wrong.

Nobody left for around seven minutes, but Kimi was the first and he set a time that no one else was able to beat. Pure joy right? Nope, the moment I finally admitted defeat, Lewis Hamilton has real pace. His first pole for Mercedes, a feat achieved a year ago by his team mate. Well done Lewis and well done the team. I still reckon he'll get the win tomorrow, but a huge Finnish part of me wants Raikkonen to get him at turn 1. The three best starters tomorrow all start in P1/2 & 3. Hamilton, Raikkonen and Alonso are the three greatest drivers in the paddock today, and tomorrow will be epic considering Webber starting at the back. It only takes one safety car for him to bunch up.

FINAL STANDINGS (AUTOSPORT):

Pos  Driver               Team/Car
 1.  Lewis Hamilton       Mercedes
 2.  Kimi Raikkonen       Lotus-Renault
 3.  Fernando Alonso      Ferrari
 4.  Nico Rosberg         Mercedes
 5.  Felipe Massa         Ferrari
 6.  Romain Grosjean      Lotus-Renault
 7.  Daniel Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari
 8.  Jenson Button        McLaren-Mercedes
 9.  Sebastian Vettel     Red Bull-Renault
10.  Nico Hulkenberg      Sauber-Ferrari
11.  Paul di Resta        Force India-Mercedes
12.  Sergio Perez         McLaren-Mercedes
13.  Adrian Sutil         Force India-Mercedes
14.  Pastor Maldonado     Williams-Renault
15.  Jean-Eric Vergne     Toro Rosso-Ferrari
16.  Valtteri Bottas      Williams-Renault
17.  Esteban Gutierrez    Sauber-Ferrari
18.  Jules Bianchi        Marussia-Cosworth
19.  Max Chilton          Marussia-Cosworth
20.  Charles Pic          Caterham-Renault
21.  Giedo van der Garde  Caterham-Renault
22.  Mark Webber          Red Bull-Renault

Preview: 2013 Australia Grand Prix

There is no better track to open a Formula One season than that in Melbourne. Albert Park or Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit is a 16 corner street circuit which traditionally since 1996 (bar two seasons) has been the calendar opener. There is a unique focus on this weekend because we don't know how the teams are going to preform. Yes from testing we have an idea, but there are some things that teams hide from us. After the lights go out, we'll have a clearer picture.

Track profile courtesy of Caterham Racing

Track Characteristics
Melbourne is a high downforce track which is also very demanding on the brakes. Pirelli have decided to open their campaign by providing the teams with supersoft and medium compounded tyres, the first time supersofts have been used at this circuit. Let's hope they hold out during the high speed corners. Grip levels will improve as the race goes on and with the average track temperature being 25°C, rain is highly unlikely. Going by testing figures, commentators expect a 2 or 3 stop race. The double DRS zones (which are now mandatory for each circuit) are on the pit straight and the straight between turns 2 & 3.

Jenson Button was the most recent winner, a circuit he tends to favour and succeed in. The story couldn't be more different for national hero Mark Webber who always seems to find nothing but disappointment at his home GP, however the odds are often reversed come Silverstone for the pair. An Australian driver has never won here.

Preview
A number of the teams will certainly feel uncomfortable following a rain ridden testing campaign in Barcelona. Lotus lost their impressive Jerez pace and a day without Kimi Raikkonen following his illness, they join a number of teams who will have very empty data logs. Due to no dramatic technical changes for this year, the cars performance's are expected to remain the same, so expect strong charges from the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel, the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso but most importantly, the McLaren of Jenson Button. No doubt though, all eyes will be on Lewis Hamilton in his new Mercedes.

The surprise form of the midfield teams like Sauber and Williams looks unlikely to make a re-insurgence, though do not rule it out. Challenges from the Force India of Paul di Resta would also be a welcome feature, and expect home boy Daniel Ricciardo to try and impress his crowd.

Qualifying
Always ridiculously hard to predict, I would always refuse to but since I've started this blog I feel obliged to. As quick as Sergio Perez was last year, I can't imagine him getting his first pole position in Formula 1, the same goes for team mate Button's chances. Pole position is most likely going to come from Vettel, Alonso or Raikkonen. I also think the people on the bandwagon are going to be highly disappointed after they see Mercedes's qualifying performance.

The Race
Expect a frantic 290m sprint to turn 1 as all drivers attempt to establish their roles within their respective teams and the grid's pecking order. However I genuinely think the drivers who will come out on top will be those who were in the title hunt at the tail end of last season. Vettel, Raikkonen and Alonso will take 3rd, 2nd and 1st respectively whenever the race Down Under comes to a close.

After Sunday there are going to be a lot of satisfied F1 fans as this weekend ends the draught we so desperately hate. The last season of the current engines will not see a mighty unpredictable turn of events like last year, but round 1 will certainly give us the opening we know it can provide. 

Editors Note
Every weekend I will be providing qualifying and race reviews but due to my future Marshall and work commitments on a Saturday and Sunday and the BBC selling all my rights, I'll not be able to provide live coverage on Twitter or immediate reviews. To amend this, I plan to watch every highlight session with a note book on hand to jot down even the tiniest of details. Remember to keep it here for everything Formula 1, and follow me on Twitter @Houston60. 

Sono Toro Rosso Pazzo?

Are Toro Rosso Crazy?

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.