And lastly, we're
left with the "Dregs" 'O the grid, albeit seventh place AIN'T nothin'
to complain about, while surely Sauber hopes to put its worst season ever into
its rear view mirrors!
 |
| The interim Toro Rosso STR10 breaks cover at Jerez. (Image source: f1fanatic.co.uk) |
Chassis: STR10
Engine: Renault
2014 Constructor Ranking: 7th; 30-points
Debut Race: 2006 Bahrain GP
Drivers
(Car#/Name: R denotes rookie)
33) R-Max Verstappen
55) R-Carlos Sainz, Jr.
History
Now in its eleventh season as Red Bull's 'lil
Seester, nee 'B-team, Scuderia Toro Rosso fondly began life in 1985 as the Minnowesqe
Minardi F1 Team founded by Giancarlo Minardi, and subsequently taken over by Scuderia
Italia, whom Minardi sold a majority of his team to when merging forces in 1994
to stay alive. Then "Flavour Flav," nee "HMS Monogram," aka
Flavio Briatore bought into the Back-marker, before Gabriele Rumi
got involved, first as a sponsor in '96; and ultimately 'OZ
businessman Paul Stoddart took over control in 2001, when he bought the team
from Rumi.
Giancarlo, Gabriele and Messer Stoddart all had a knack for spotting and developing talent,
along with giving many Italian racing drivers, amongst others their start in
Formula 1 - which I attempted profiling in;
Yet, the feisty Aussie team owner Stoddart,
who raced with the smallest budget on the F1 Grid, threw in the towel late
'Twenty-oh-five and sold the outfit lock, stock 'N barrel to "Deeter
Majestik," (Dietrich Mateschitz) who promptly
turned it into today's 'lil Bulls squad, nee Scuderia Toro Rosso with Helmet
Marco as its proverbial overseer, albeit Franz Tost is its official leader.
Alas, the Faenza
based Toro Rosso outfit has a nasty reputation for tossing out promising F1
Drivers like old bathwater, seeking drivers more notably for their marketing
appeal then necessarily their talent, as a finishing school for aspiring racing
drivers to promote to the B-I-G' BULLS, aka Red Bull team - with the likes of
Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat
having all graduated to Red Bull drives.
Notes
Not really sure what drove the 'Punting of
'JEV, aka Jean-Eric Vergne, who logically would have been an ideal candidate to
retain in order to help Max "Dutch Boy" Verstappen navigate his
rookie campaign in the rarefied stratosphere of Formula 1. Yet, instead, the
team, possibly contractually obliged? Hired Spain's Carlos Sainz, Jr. while
previously, Toro Rosso hired a new Team Manager named Graham Watson. As it'll
be interesting to see which rookie driver acclimatizes himself to F1 the
best...
 |
| Sauber shows off its new look C34. (Image source: adamcooperf1.com) |
Chassis: C34
Engine: Ferrari
2014 Constructor Ranking: 10th; 0-points
Debut Race: 1993 South African GP
Drivers
(Car#/Name: R denotes rookie)
9. Marcus
Ericsson
12. R-Felipe
Nasr
History
Peter Sauber began building Sports Car racers
in the 1970's and soon became Mercedes "Works" Prototype chassis
builder, after installing Mercedes V-8 turbocharged engines in the back of his
racecars in the 1980's; returning the famed "Silver Arrows" to motor
racing and ultimately leading to winning the coveted 24 Heurs du Mans in 1989
and the World Sports Car championship in 1990, both for Mercedes.
Sauber's
Sports Car drivers included senior drivers Jochen Mass, Jean Louis
Schlesser and Mauro Baldi, whilst the "Junior Team" consisted of
three Blokes named Schumacher, Frentzen and Wendingler, as the trio all
graduated to Formula 1 shortly thereafter. And yeah, that Schumacher was
eventual seven times world champion Michael, who's debutant F1 drive for 'EJ's
(Eddie Jordan) team was paid for by the three pointed star concern, with Messer's
Heinz-Harald (Frentzen) and Karl (Wendlinger) becoming Sauber's original two
Formula 1 Piloto's for his debutant season as an F1 Constructor in 1993,
propelled by Mercedes Benz Ilmor 3.5-liter V-10 normally aspirated 'lumps.
After an impressive maiden season, '94 turned
into a 'lil shop 'O horror's, with Mercedes unimpressed by Sauber's lack of
progress, while Wendlinger suffered not only a life threatening injury, but
ultimately career ending accident at Monaco...
For 1995-96 Sauber was the "Works"
Ford V-10 team with less than satisfying results, before switching to its long
running customer Ferrari relationship along with "Deeter Majestik's"
(Dietrich Mateschitz) 10yr Red Bull partnership,
before Sauber's insistence to run somebody named thee "Iceman," nee
Kimi Raikkonen over Mateschitz demands for Enrique Bernoldi to
be installed instead led to the Red Bull magnate buying Jaguar from Ford - and
the rest is history.
Although I'd say that Raikkonen, the 2007 world
champion and 20-times Grand Prix winner, now driving for Ferrari alongside
four-times world champion Seb' Vettel vs. Bernoldi was the right choice after
all! As Bernoldi quickly vanished from the F1 scene after a less than stellar
stint at Tom Walkinshaw's Arrows Gran Prix team before becoming a test driver
for the now defunct BAR team...
Sauber also kept a long running sponsorship
association with Petronas, before being scooped up by Mercedes, whilst BMW
bought the last "true" F1 Privateer in 2006, later scoring the team's
only Grand Prix victory to date with
"The Krakow Kid" (Robert Kubica) at the helm at Circuit Gilles
Villeneuve - before BMW unceremoniously quit F1 3yrs later and left Messer
Sauber scurrying to save his beloved Formula 1 team...
Then Messer Sauber boldly put Monisha Kaltenborn
in control, making the Indian lawyer the first female Team Principal in Formula
1 history, whilst the team just endured
its worst season ever in F1 last year, scoring zero points, and finishing
tenth, one place behind bankrupt Marussia F1 in the coveted Constructor's
race!
Notes
The team has opted for an all new driver
line-up, albeit both being "Pay Driver's," with Brazilian rookie
Felipe Nasr bringing multi-kuhzillions from Banco Brasilia, while Sweden's
Marcus Ericsson brings briefcases full of Kroner's himself! And the team's new
Test Driver Raffaele
Marciello is another Scuderia Ferrari protégé - in the
mold of Jules Bianchi me thinks, although don't know anything 'bout the Italian
driver...
To
continue reading, see;F1: Manor-Marussia gets Shanghaied after last minute return inAustralia...