Toro Rosso STR1

The Scuderia Toro Rosso STR1 was the car with which the Scuderia Toro Rosso team competed in the Formula One season. It was driven by Vitantonio Liuzzi, who had started four Grands Prix for the sister Red Bull Racing team in , and Scott Speed, a débutant who was the first American driver to compete in F1 since Michael Andretti in . The STR1 was the first car from the Faenza-based team to use Michelin tyres since the Minardi PS02. The STR1 was also the first Toro Rosso F1 car to feature the mandatory 7-speed gearbox configuration. The STR1 was also the last Formula One car to utilize the 3.0 L V10 engine configuration (previously used between 1995 and 2005) to date, but with 16,700 rpm rev limiter and 77mm air restrictor.

History

2006 marked a new beginning, as Red Bull had bought the Minardi team which had competed in F1 for twenty years and renamed it using the Italian translation of their brand name. The new team inherited Minardi's technical team and its factory at Faenza only, as ex-owner Paul Stoddart kept Minardi's other property in Ledbury. A deal that allowed the team to run restricted V10 engines, instead of V8s, was also maintained despite the new ownership.

This allowed Toro Rosso to use an almost identical version of the previous year's Red Bull RB1 coupled with the same Cosworth engines, only power-restricted under the FIA's equivalency formula and also without any factory support from Cosworth. Both the chassis-sharing and V10 engine usage remained controversial topics throughout the season, as the engine agreement was designed to benefit the poor Minardi team, not the much richer Red Bull company. However, this wore off as the season progressed, as fears over the car's potential performance advantage proved to be unfounded.

This was largely due to the year-old chassis, the torque advantage of the V10 being canceled out by traction control, and the lack of engine development and tyre testing given to the team. However, the team were generally more competitive than Midland/Spyker and Super Aguri, and Liuzzi was able to score the team's only point at Indianapolis.

Liuzzi was generally the quicker of the drivers, although Speed improved as he gained experience. Despite both gettings involved in several accidents and mistakes due to their inexperience, the STR duo both drew praise from the part-team owner Gerhard Berger for their performances.

The team eventually finished ninth in the Constructors' Championship, with one point.

The STR1 is still actively used in the BOSS GP Series, driven by Ingo Gerstl for the Top Speed team and have won the Open Class title from 2016 to 2020.

Sponsorship and livery

Compared to its parent team livery, the STR1 sported a darker shade of blue, with a golden-tipped nosecone. The car had a distinctive raging bull painting on its engine cover, which was designed by Austrian sculptor Jos Pirkner and handsprayed by Knud Tiroch before each Grand Prix.

The only sponsors logos present in the STR1 were from parent company Red Bull and suppliers Michelin and Cosworth.

Image:Vitantonio Liuzzi 2006.jpg, Vitantonio Liuzzi at the 2006 Canadian Grand Prix.
Image:Scott Speed Canada 2006 (crop).PNG, Scott Speed at the 2006 Canadian Grand Prix.
Image:Toro Rosso STR1-Cosworth Ingo Gerstl Hockenheim Historic 2019.jpg, Ingo Gerstl at the Hockenheim Historic.
Image:BOSS GP 2022 Spielberg Nr. 1 (2).jpg, Ingo Gerstl at the Red Bull Ring.

Complete Formula One results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position)

Driver did not finish the Grand Prix but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

References

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{{Red Bull

Toro Rosso Formula One cars