Toro Rosso Formula 1 - Articles - Zimbio

McLaren top final day in Jerez

Sat, 21 Sep 2008 11:36:00 GMT

posted by dja360
The 2008 season’s final multi-team test drew to a close at Jerez in Spain on Friday, with McLaren’s Pedro de la Rosa on top of the timesheets. The Spaniard, one of eight drivers in action, set a best of 1m 18.992s, a quarter of a second up on nearest rival, BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld.

"Today I concentrated on the mechanical and aerodynamic development of the car," said Heidfeld after completing 98 laps in the F1.08, bringing his team’s total mileage for the week to 1,465 kilometres. "We found some promising solutions to improve the set-up of the car."

In the fine conditions, the teams took the opportunity to catch up on time lost to rain on Thursday, with many drivers running close to 100 laps or more. Renault’s Lucas di Grassi was third fastest after 102, as he continued with aero and set-up work for the upcoming races in the R28.

"It was another hot day, but it was much better than yesterday and we were able to do lots of laps,” said the Brazilian. “I felt even more comfortable with the car and we have definitely improved it a lot during the week. We worked on lots of different things, including some set-up work and new tyre runs in the morning, and in the afternoon we evaluated some parts to be used in the last few races."

Sebastian Vettel was fourth in the times, back in the Toro Rosso cockpit after his two days with Red Bull Racing. He too concentrated on aerodynamic and set-up work, as well as evaluating some suspension and power steering options, and carrying out some 2009 development.

“At this, the final session of the season, our main test topics were trying out some new components on the car and the evaluation of two drivers, Sebastien Buemi and Takuma Sato,” explained Toro Rosso team principal, Franz Tost. “On Wednesday, Red Bull young driver Buemi was in the cockpit and, as expected, he did a good job. On Thursday, Japan’s Takuma Sato was behind the wheel. Unfortunately, he was only able to run in the morning because the rain arrived at lunchtime. Despite only completing a few laps, Sato also put up a good performance.

“Although those two days were something of an audition for a 2009 seat with Scuderia Toro Rosso, Red Bull is in no hurry to make a decision at this point in the year, when we are concentrating on doing well in the final four races.”

Buemi was back in action for regular team, Red Bull. The Swiss driver clocked the day’s fifth-fastest time ahead of Toyota’s Timo Glock, who carried out a programme of aero comparisons for the coming races, including Singapore and Japan, as well as work on brakes and other systems.

"Following yesterday's interruptions, today we had a much busier day of running,” commented Gerd Pfeiffer, Toyota’s test team manager. “Timo's programme included work on aerodynamics for the coming races along with brakes and other systems. We had no technical problems and we collected a lot of useful data. Overall it has been a positive week despite the intervention of the weather yesterday. We have made good progress and we can head into the last four races with confidence."

Completing the Friday line-up were Honda’s Alexander Wurz in seventh and Williams’ Nico Rosberg in eighth.

Unofficial Friday times:
1. Pedro de la Rosa, McLaren, 1:18.992
2. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 1:19.250
3. Lucas di Grassi, Renault, 1:19.280
4. Sebastian Vettel, Toro Rosso, 1:19.470
5. Sebastien Buemi, Red Bull, 1:20.005
6. Timo Glock, Toyota, 1:20.482
7. Alexander Wurz, Honda, 1:22.637
8. Nico Rosberg, Williams, 1:22.876Tags: F1, Formula 1, Motor Racing, Grand Prix, news, Jerez, McLaren

MINARDI - VIA SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO - FINALLY WINS A RACE

Sat, 14 Sep 2008 23:12:00 GMT

posted by goodcarbadcar
Shocking though it may have been to see Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Sebastian Vettel in pole position at the Italian Grand Prix, few anticipated a race of dominance from the man we now know to be the youngest ever F1 winner. But that's exactly who Sebastian Vettel now is. He's 21. He's German. He drives for an infamous backmarker team, and he won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza today.
No less important is the impact that comes from a race win by Scuderia Tora Rosso. While their cars are designed to be identical to that of the Red Bull Formula 1 racers, the STR cars use Ferrari engines and not Renault V8s. Toro Rosso simply means Red Bull in Italian. The name that was once written across team helmets and banners, however, was Minardi.
Minardi. Twas a team founded in 1979. Racing until 2005, Minardi became as famous for losing as the New York Yankees are for winning. Despite quality drivers like Alex Zanardi, Giancarlo Fisichella, Fernando Alonso, Jarno Trulli, and Christian Fittipaldi, Minardi's budget was famously miniscule compared with the giants of the sport at Ferrari and McLaren.
Today, the budget didn't matter. Forget famous drivers like Lewis Hamilton, Alonso, and Felipe Massa. It was a young man named Vettel who pulled through for those 15,000 Minardi fans who were so upset when the name of their team - their precious, precious team - was changed to Scuderia Toro Rosso.
Thus, in a way, Minardi's name can no longer be linked with the Atlanta Falcons or Texas Rangers Phoenix Suns or Buffalo Sabres. Thank-you Sebastian Vettel.Representing a generation of first-time new car buyers, The Good Car Guy puts words to their thoughts and feelings. The Good Car Guy is a guy all about the good car. Advance the good car - dethrone the bad car.

Vettel says win is the 'best day of my life'

Sat, 14 Sep 2008 16:45:00 GMT

posted by dja360
His maiden F1 victory in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza has made it the 'best day of my life', according to race winner Sebastian Vettel.

The Toro Rosso driver became the youngest winner in F1 history at the age of 21 with an impeccable drive from pole position to lead the race virtually all the way.

"Unbelievable," he exclaimed afterwards.

"The whole race we had no problems and the car was working really fine.

"I had a fantastic race and a very strategy, but you know, all that was gone when I crossed the finish line and got the chequered flag.

"The lap back to the pits and the podium ceremony were just unbelievable.

"It’s for sure the best day of my life… These pictures, these emotions I will never forget.

"It’s so much better than you might think it is; it’s great!"

The win was also the first for F1 Toro Rosso, the sister Red Bull ‘B’ team delivered the energy-drink company’s first triumph ahead of main 'A' team Red Bull Racing.

For many of the team who initially worked for the Minardi squad, which later changed to Toro Rosso following Red Bull’s takeover in late 2005, it was a milestone victory after years struggling at the back of the grid.

"Again, I can only say a big, big thank you to all the guys working in the team – they did a fantastic job," said Vettel.

"We have about 160 people working in Faenza and I think every single one today feels very special and should feel very special.

"Who could have thought of this at the beginning of the season? We had a poor start [to the season], let’ say, but then we got better and better, and in these conditions we can make up a bit of our [deficit] by a bit more effort or staying a bit longer full throttle!

"It’s fantastic…I’m speechless."

The victory capped a perfect weekend for the young German having secured his first ever pole position on Saturday. Vettel knew the way to win this race in the rain was to have a strong start to ensure he had clear visibility for the first few laps while the others struggled with the spray.

"The safety car start helped me, and being first and having no visibility problems at all was the key, as I could make a good solid gap of about six seconds to Heikki [Kovalainen] straight away," said Vettel.

"I was pushing very hard, sometimes went a bit over the limit and nearly lost the car – it was so difficult in the beginning as there was a lot of water.

"But I think it got more tricky in the middle of the race when there was no standing water any more but everyone had to look for water to cool down the tyres and it was very, very slippery.

"Then in the last stint I was in a very good position.

"Obviously I stayed out a bit longer than Heikki and he put the intermediate tyres on, so I was on the radio to my engineer and he said ‘let’s go for inters’, which I think was the right choice.

"Overall, what a weekend! Pole position, race win… I mean, I don’t know what to say really…"

"Sometimes I was thinking ‘it still says P1 on my pit board, how can that be?’ and I knew there were no more pit stops to do,” he recounted.

"But then I have to say I was extremely focused every lap; I didn’t lift to try to save the engine or the tyres or anything.

"Of course I was looking after my car but I was trying to keep attention, because especially towards the end when there was kind of a dry line through some corners it was very, very crucial to stick on that dry line.

"So it was extremely difficult to keep up concentration, but in the end I was just always trying to push and to increase the gap to the guys behind."

quotes source: itv.com

Sato and Buemi compete for vacant STR seat

Mon, 2 Sep 2008 11:21:00 GMT

posted by dja360
Takuma Sato could soon see his way back to Formula 1 with Toro Rosso when he begins testing for the squad later this month.

However, he'll be competing with Red Bull protege Sebastien Buemi for the seat that will be vacated by Sebastien Vettel when he switches over to RBR in 2009.

Sato, who has been out of F1 since Super Aguri went into administration earlier this year, will take part in a shoot-out with Buemi, the RBR test driver and GP2 racer.

They will both test at Jerez after this year's Italian Grand Prix and team boss Franz Tost believes Vettel's seat should be secured in the next few weeks.

"The time has come to try and find a suitable replacement for Vettel," said Tost.

"The Jerez test, the last one of the season, will give us an opportunity to evaluate Buemi and Sato at the same time, as they are both possible candidates for a 2009 seat."

Buemi seems the natural successor to Vettel and continues the squad's development of its own drivers but Sato is still in the running according to Tost.

"Buemi is an obvious candidate, because not only is he already part of the Red Bull family, he is currently performing well in the GP2 Series," he said.

"As for Sato, he has proved worthy of a place in Formula 1 and would be a good fit with the Red Bull spirit, while his recent F1 experience would be undoubtedly valuable to our team."

Takuma Sato managed one podium finish while driving for BAR-Honda before joining Super Aguri in 2006. He's looking forward to a possible return to F1.

"I am delighted to be given this opportunity to get back behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car, after my season was cut short following the Spanish GP," said Sato.

"It will be especially interesting working with a team that has made so much progress over the course of the year."

Another name in the hat for the STR seat is that of Sato's former team-mate Anthony Davidson. Davidson was linked to Toro Rosso but may prefer a swtich to IndyCar in the States after he attended a race in Detroit.

And Toro Rosso may decide to vacate the other seat currently occupied by Sebastien Bourdais. Co-owner Gerhard Berger said during the race in Valencia that Bourdais must do more to keep his F1 future alive after an indifferent 2008 season.

Sebastian Vettel Takes Youngest Ever F1 Victory

Sun, 15 Sep 2008 02:39:46 GMT

posted by WhipDaddy

Posted by Vinay Menon September 14, 2008 at 10:39 pm

Sebastian Vettel Wins Italian Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel probably had a better Sunday than you. At the age of 21 years and 73 days, he has become the youngest driver to ever win a Formula One race, in F1’s 59 year history. At a rain soaked race in Monza, Italy, right in Ferrari’s backyard, Toro Rosso driver Vettel took pole, drove phenomenally, and finished the race 12.5 seconds ahead of second place Heikki Kovalainen’s McLaren.

To give you some idea of the immensity of Vettel’s accomplishment, consider that the last time a non-manufacturer team won an F1 race was the Jordan team, more than 5 years ago, at the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix, an incident-packed wet weather race that had to be ended prematurely. In fact, the last time an Italian team, that was not Ferrari, won an F1 race was in 1957 (Maserati.)

Vettel has also contributed to the Red Bull’s ‘junior’ F1 team’s finances significantly this year, as the 10 points he earns as race winner directly translates to dollars paid to the team by Formula One Management. Scuderia Toro Rosso is half owned by Red Bull Racing, and half by 80s F1 star Gerhard Berger. Toro Rosso has competed in 48 races since 2006, and the best they had so far was a fourth place. After this weekend they now have a pole-position and a win.

There is no doubt Vettel’s name is going to be attached to many more significant F1 achievements in the future. His driving has been exemplary from the very beginning. He scored a point in his very first race (becoming the youngest F1 driver to ever score a point), and also earned the record of the quickest driver to get a fine in F1, being fined a thousand bucks only 9 seconds into his career, for speeding in the pit lane. The young German has a promising career ahead of him. For 2009 Vettel moves to the Red Bull team, while billionaire Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz tries to unload the Toro Rosso team to a new owner.

Following the Italian Grand Prix (Race Number 14 out of 18), the drivers points standings for the championship are:
1. Lewis Hamilton 78
2. Felipe Mass 77
3. Robert Kubica 64
4. Kimi Raikkonnen 57

Vettel now has 23 points total for the year, and is in 9th place. Torro Rosso incidentally, now have 27 points so far in 2008. They only scored 8 points altogether in 2007, and 1 point in 2006!!!

Posted in: Formula 1 | 18 Views |

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