Tag Archives: toro rosso

Testing over, Australia is approaching

So testing for the 2011 season is done, the teams have their data and we have the times. There isn’t many surprises within the testing times though I would have expected more from McLaren – not another year spent catching up? If Red Bull stop throwing away points McLaren don’t have a chance. Ferrari should push them hard and expect Alonso to want that title.
Australia is an odd place, it doesn’t seem to be that indicative of the season and doesn’t always show the true pace of the cars. We also know that you can win by being clever here as Jenson Button has shown. Don’t expect the Red Bull to be off the pace though, or for the brakes to explode, they will be hard to beat.
The tyres will be the great unknown in Melbourne as there isn’t really anywhere to use the new rear wing or Drag reduction device, [...]

Full year report: Toro Rosso

Toro Rosso have been invisible much of the year, mainly because they have been nowhere on pace, perhaps because you always assume that it’s a Red Bull. For the first year in which they have built their own car I guess it’s not that bad but I wonder what was expected.
Jaime Alguersuari has had a solid year, he has built on previous experience and puts in solid performances, though he can still be prone to some of his more childish behaviours. He needs to show next year that he is a quality driver that has been learning the ropes if he wants to move up the grid, I don’t think that Toro Rosso can do it for him.
Sebastien Buemi hasn’t really featured in anything this year, apart from the odd accident. Which is the same as last year, how many more ‘goes’ does he get before he ends up on [...]

Ferrari rule in Monza and the title closes up – again

If you’re driving a Ferrari, Monza is the place you want to win, the Tifosi will celebrate you like a King – it doesn’t matter who you are, they may have cheered so loudly a few years ago when your engine expired when driving for a rival but all that is forgotten if your Ferrari takes the chequered flag first.
So Alonso gets another of the jewels for any Ferrari driver and it was all down to about 5 metres out of the pit lane, the team won the race not just Alonso, Buttons stop was about half a second slower than Alonso’s and that made all the difference. That’s not to say that the Spaniard couldn’t have overtaken Button on the track but I don’t see any reason to believe that he’d have been able to do something he hadn’t managed for the first two thirds of the race. But [...]

Stefan GP and Toyota split up – for now…

Stefan GP – the team that tried and failed to take US F1’s position on the grid – has had a set back to it’s plans to enter F1. It’s main point was that it had the Toyota car, offices and technical support but now that agreement that was based upon Stefan GP actually gaining an entry has come to an end and the Stefan GP outfit has nothing again.
It seems that this saga will not end – though it does mean that Zoran Stefanovic is determined and that usually gets you what you want in F1. Bernie also still seems behind the outfit saying that it’s not all done and dusted and that we may yet see the team on the grid this year – though they would have to buy US F1’s entry and jump over some pretty big FIA hurdles to pull that one off. If this [...]