Team story
Origins
Faenza changed its team name in 2006 after Red Bull’s purchase of Minardi. Scuderia Toro Rosso made its debut with Vitantonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed in the STR1. While the rest of the grid adopted 2.4-litre V8s, that car still used a three-litre Cosworth V10, permitted with restrictions on engine speed and intake.
The Formula 1 journey
Sebastian Vettel made the 2008 Italian Grand Prix the marque’s defining result: pole in the wet and victory in the Ferrari-powered STR3. Toro Rosso thus won before Red Bull’s main team. Two further podiums came only in 2019, with Daniil Kvyat third in Germany and Pierre Gasly second in Brazil.
It was the last season, and those were the last podiums, under that name.
Historical timeline
Three chapters in the story of Toro Rosso
Three episodes to revisit the people, cars and races that shaped this journey.
First appearance · Bahrain Grand Prix
Vitantonio Liuzzi · Bahrain Grand Prix 2006. The recorded position is P11; this number alone does not show whether the driver completed the race distance. This is the first recorded race start, or the first entry if the team never started a race.
Sporting landmark · Italian Grand Prix
Sebastian Vettel · Italian Grand Prix 2008. The recorded position is P1; this number alone does not show whether the driver completed the race distance. This marks the first win or podium where one exists, otherwise the highest recorded placing for this constructor.
Latest recorded appearance · Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Pierre Gasly · Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2019. The recorded position is P18; this number alone does not show whether the driver completed the race distance. This is the last race start attributed to this constructor in the archive, not necessarily the end of the organisation behind it.
A distinctive way of racing
The team acted as a stepping stone for drivers in Red Bull’s programme, but also had to establish its technical independence. Giorgio Ascanelli helped the transition from designs closely related to Red Bull’s towards greater design responsibility. Daniel Ricciardo, Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen passed through Faenza; Verstappen made his debut there in 2015, before being promoted during the following season.
What remains
The collaboration with Honda began in 2018 and took the STR14 to the podium twice in 2019. From 2020, the organisation raced as AlphaTauri. Subsequent transformations do not erase what made the Toro Rosso period distinctive: a Monza victory, the development of drivers later promoted and an ability to regain competitiveness with a new engine supplier.
Those results remain separate from those of the preceding Minardi team.
