Scuderia Toro Rosso
Toro Rosso was formed out of Paul Stoddart's Minardi Formula 1 team after the Austrian energy drink billionaire, Dietrich Mateschitz bought it in 2005 as a sister team to Red Bull Racing. It is these origins that explain why the team is registered as Italian despite its Austrian ownership. However, it wasn't long after the team was bought that half of the team was sold to former Formula 1 driver, Gerhard Berger, who took over the job of directing the team. By 2008 it won its first race, prompting Dietrich Mateschitz to buy back Berger's shares to again own the team 100 percent. 2010 will be their fifth year on the grid and the first in which they have had to design their own car.
The Italian based team will be looking for a much improved season after propping up last year's standings, although it wasn't all their fault. While Toro Rosso were in many ways the surprise package of 2008, Red Bull's sister team had to take a back seat role in 2009 as the A-team chased the Championship title. However, the team faces a difficult transition period with need to construct its own car in 2010. That said, with the successful RB5 as a starting point, Toro Rosso will be ahead of the game and should be confident to challenge in the midfield as the product of that intensive development filters down. Force India and Sauber are the yardsticks they will be hoping to beat. On the other hand, a part of Toro Rosso's success was down to Sebastian Vettel and the team have yet to identify a replacement of his quality - a lack of consistency letting them down far too often.
2009 Position: 10th, 8 Points
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