Toro Rosso Adds Vettel, Axes Speed
German Inks Race Driver Pact for Rest of 2007 F1 Season, All of 2008
After an awful European Grand Prix weekend, Scuderia Toro Rosso made a driver change -- signing Sebastian Vettel to take the race seat that had been held by Scott Speed.
It’s unusual for a back-marker team to generate a steady stream of news in Formula 1. But for the last few weeks, since mid-July, Scuderia Toro Rosso (STR) has warranted ongoing media attention.
It will take two articles on Suite101 to cover the latest at STR. This article will examine the addition of Sebastian Vettel of Germany, who has taken over the race seat formerly occupied by Scott Speed.
The subject of the second article -- "2008: Bourdais to F1, Toro Rosso?" -- is the team’s other race seat. Will Sebastien Bourdais replace Vitantonio Liuzzi for 2008? STR failed to exercise by the July 31 deadline a contract option on Bourdais, the three-time defending champion of the Champ Car World Series.
At last check with STR, the fire was still burning a day after the train wreck of the European Grand Prix weekend at the Nurburgring. For details, please see the Suite101 article, “Lost F1 Weekend for Toro Rosso.” (To learn about the genesis of STR’s presence in the media spotlight, please see the Suite101 article, “Liuzzi and Speed Feel F1 Heat.”)
Today (Friday, August 3), was the first day of the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend. Vettel made his STR debut, participating in the two 90-minute practice sessions.
Red Bull, the energy drink company, owns 50 percent of STR. Former F1 driver Gerhard Berger owns the other 50 percent.
Vettel has been associated with Red Bull since becoming a member of its junior program in 1998. Back then, Vettel was racing karts. He graduated to single-seat, open-wheel cars in 2003 and raced with Red Bull backing in lower formulae into this season.
Vettel made his F1 debut as a Friday test driver for BMW Sauber during the 2006 Turkish Grand Prix weekend.
F1 eliminated the role of Friday test driver for 2007. Vettel was serving as test-reserve driver for BMW Sauber and was leading in the points in World Series Formula Renault 3.5.
Vettel is now under contract with STR to race in the remaining F1 grands prix in 2007 and the full schedule in 2008.
Earlier this season, Vettel became the youngest point-scorer in F1 history, doing so at age 19, just shy of his 20th birthday. Substituting for the injured Robert Kubica, Vettel scored one point by bringing home his BMW Sauber in eighth place at the United States Grand Prix.
After the European Grand Prix weekend provided the last straw in its relationship with Speed, STR sought to sign Vettel to a race seat as quickly as possible.
STR hoped an agreement could be reached in time for Vettel to participate in the test at Mugello in Italy (July 25-27). STR wanted Vettel to have experience driving the STR-02 prior to the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend. Mugello would be the only opportunity because a test ban went into effect following July 27.
Liuzzi was at the wheel on the first day. Speed drove on the final two days. Vettel traveled to Mugello, but did not drive because an agreement was not reached with STR.
Thus, speculation emerged that Speed would stay with STR for the Hungarian Grand Prix and beyond. But it proved to be false.
On Tuesday, July 31, STR confirmed that Vettel had replaced Speed. The Friday practice sessions at the Hungaroring three days later were Vettel’s introduction to the STR-02.
In the morning, Vettel’s best lap time -- 1:24.905 – put him 16th out of 22 cars. Liuzzi was 18th with a best lap of 1:24.976.
In the afternoon, Vettel improved his best time to 1:23.148. But that was only good enough for 20th, one place behind Liuzzi (1:24.136).
Acrimony at the Nurburgring
The European Grand Prix weekend was the straw that ended Speed’s time as a race driver with STR.
Adding to information already in the Suite101 article, “Lost F1 Weekend for Toro Rosso,” Speed insisted that he was physical assaulted by STR team principal Franz Tost in the garage after Speed retired from the race on the third lap.
An article on the Web site F1 Live reported that Speed told SpeedTV, “after a verbal argument with Tost, ‘he hit me in the middle of the back with a closed fist. Everyone in the team saw it.’”
Speed added that Tost followed him around the garage partitions and “grabbed me from the front of my shirt, jerked me around and pushed me against the wall.”
However, Tost expressed a different view in an article on the Web site Planet F1, which was picked up from the Swiss newspaper Blick, “I (Tost) asked Speed why he retired. He just smiled back and asked why his pit stop took so long. He then turned away, which was when I put my hand on his shoulder and said ‘this is not something to discuss here.’ It was not a pit-war.”
Additional news emerged today, Friday, August 3. In an article on Planet F1, Tost said that Speed’s dismissal was based on lack of performance and not on what happened after the European Grand Prix.
According to an article on F1 Live, STR has not released Speed from his contract. News regarding his relationship with the team will be released after the Hungarian Grand Prix.
It is not known whether the news will address Speed’s relationship with Red Bull. Speed was the first winner of the Red Bull Driver Search, which had as its objective to place an American driver into F1 for the first time since 1993. Speed joined F1 as a driver for STR in 2005, the last season for the program.
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