The waiting is over, the 2009 F1 seat is secure for Bourdais

Toro Rosso took their time but at the end they made the decision that many would consider being the right one. They chose Sebastien Bourdais over Takuma Sato for 2009 season. This decision also ends speculations about Jenson Button or Rubens Barrichello possibly joining the Faenza team following collapse of Honda F1 project. This is what Le Seb had to say:

“It has been a very long and difficult winter, but now the waiting is finally over and I am really excited about tackling my second season with Scuderia Toro Rosso. I would like to thank Red Bull and Dietrich Mateschitz for this opportunity to continue with a team that made so much progress last year. Now, I can focus on preparing for the coming season. It promises to be a very interesting one, thanks to all the rule changes and I’m also looking forward to establishing a good relationship with my new teammate, Sebastien Buemi, to ensure both of us do the best possible job for the team and for Red Bull.”

Team boss Franz Tost:

“After one year with Toro Rosso, we expect him to profit from the experience he gained last season. He now knows the F1 environment, the race tracks and the team. In addition, the slick tyres, which make a comeback this year, should suit his driving style very well. Therefore he will tackle the coming season with much more experience under his belt. This will be especially valuable given that our other driver, Sebastien Buemi, is an F1 rookie, who has come up through the ranks of the Red Bull Junior Driver programme.”

Although I was hoping that Takuma Sato would eventually get this drive (being fan of Sato was the reason) I humbly accept the fact that giving Sebastien Bourdais at least one more season to prove himself probably is the wiser choice. .

The 2009 grid is now almost finalized, the only question marks remain over the “Honda” drivers if the team makes it.

Sebastien Bourdais confirmed by Toro Rosso

With all the eyes focused on future of the Brackley team formerly known as Honda we tend to forget that there is one more team with uncertain future also looking for a buyer – Scuderia Toro Rosso. The talk about Honda being suited by several interested parties may be encouraging for Red Bull. If there indeed are several parties in talk with Honda that means that even in the current conditions there are people interested in entering Formula 1. When (if) Honda is sold some of the loosing bidders may turn their eye to Toro Rosso. May, if the team is assured of future existence. Some sponsors on board would probably also do no harm to longe term prospects of the former Minardi team.

The requirement to turn team into a proper constructor from 2010 season puts an end to Red Bulls’ one car for two teams idea. The prospect of Toro Rosso having to build their own car resulted first in Dietrich Mateschitz putting the team up for sale (although he later denied he did so). Few months later Gerhard Berger sold his 50% of the team back to Mateschitz. The new conditions made no longer any commercial sense for Berger but many also saw that move as a consolidation of the ownership – a step that should facilitate future sale of the team.

However no matter how sucessful the team was in 2008 it will be difficult for them to find a buyer unless they build their own car. And if they want to race beyond 2009 that they will need to do no matter who will be the owner.

The signs are they are en route to do so. Already during last season Berger ordered increase of the Faenza factory workforce by about 50 people. There is also talk that while the 2009 car will still be designed by Red Bull Technolgy STR will be building their cars in its Faenza factory. I am not sure that this alone will make them full blown constructor, they will still need to design the new cars in the future. But once the factory is running all they will need is to get hand on a car design. There is probably already an army of experts working on the options. Of course the easiest way for Toro Rosso would be to take the 2009 car built by Red Bull Technology and use it as the base for their own car from 2010 on. I am not sure howeverthey would be allowed to use that third party loophole again …

Sebastien Buemi ready to make the step up to Formula One

At the moment the team has no funding other than that coming from Red Bull. Gerhard Berger while still in charge made no secret of the fact that ability to bring funds to the team will play big part in deciding STR’s 2009 drivers. In other words – the team was looking for a pay driver. It may be different now with Red Bull fully in charge. There is almost no doubt that Red Bull backed Sebastien Buemi will be one of the drivers. It will be interesting to see who will finally get the nod for the second seat. Many expected the announcement to come right after the last 2008 test but nothing has been announced yet. Bourdais, Sato and according to some also Barichello still remain in the picture. I do believe that if it comes down to commerce Sato would be the choice if for nothing else than for his popularity back in Japan, the one major energy drinks market where Red Bull is yet to make it big. Mateschitz may however go for the continuity and keep Bourdais or go for experience and place Barrichello next to the rookie Buemi. The decision is obviously not easy …

Can they afford to continue wasting this ad space ?

Red Bull may continue to fully fund both their F1 teams and use them as marketing vehicles for the brand. Red Bull at the end is all about marketing. How else would one make billions by selling carbonized water, sugar, taurine and caffeine packed in a can . But if they do want some sponsors to come on board of at least Toro Rosso team they might have to do something about that livery. The massive raging bull may have looked exciting back in 2006 but I must say that on the track it looks like a can of red paint spilled over the car, over the prime piece of real estate on that car.

So what will it be for Toro Rosso in 2009 ? Will they survive into 2010 and beyond or will Red Bull pull the plug on the team if no buyer comes to get it ?

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Photos: Red Bull/GEPA

What will 2009 bring for Toro Rosso ?

Dietrich Mateschitz and Gergard Berger

Interesting and quite surprising news came out of the Red Bull camp. The energy drinks company bought back the 50% stake in Scuderia Toro Rosso from Gerhard Berger taking full control over the former Mindardi team.

Dietrich Mateschitz:

“I am very grateful to Gerhard for his huge input. Together we turned Toro Rosso into a team that qualified on a regular basis in the top 10 and collected world championship points.”

Gerhard Berger:

“A 100% financing of a joint project by one partner can only make sense, to my mind, at an initial stage. This stage is over now. That’s why Red Bull will take over the shares again.”

I think the statement from Gerhard Berger reveals the main reason behind this development – without any serious sponsors on board and probably nowehere in the vicinity the funding has to come from the shareholders. Berger simply can’t afford or does not want to fund the Toro Rosso operation from his own pocket.

It is however still interesting turn of events. Not that long ago there were reports that Mateschitz put his share in the team up for sale. After closing the loopholes in the regulations all the teams are to build their own chassis from season 2010 and this was something else than Mateschitz originally planned for his dual Red Bull/Toro Rosso operation. Mateschitz however later downplayed the “for sale” reports as taken out of context or misunderstood or whatever … And now he bought Berger’s shares back and fully owns two Formula 1 teams.

What does all this mean for the immediate and long term future of the team ? We will see. In the immediate future it looks like this has secured Sebastien Buemi his Toro Rosso race seat. And if Mateschitz plans to make the most of his second team as a marketing vehicle for Red Bull then Sato’s chances might have gone up as well. At the end Japan is one of the markets where Red Bull still has some job to do …

But can Mateschitz support two Formula 1 teams in a long term ?

Although as gandprix.com reports Red Bull can afford about 1 billion dollars a year on marketing I do not think that Mateschitz is ready to spend big chunk of that money on F1 only. One way how to limit the spending is to continue using same chassis for both Red Bull and Toro Rosso. For that to happen the teams would have to agree to overturn the every team own chassis rule from 2010. They may be more inclined to that now as nobody wants to see the grid reduced to 9 teams only but some teams, like Williams, may want something in return for that …

Toro Rosso livery, where is the space for sponsors ?

I also wonder if he will keep both liveries looking like moving Red Bull billboards or will he sacrifice some of the real estate for some serious sponsors. If he plans to sell some space on Toro Rosso cars, he would have to get rid of that huge splash of red paint they say is a bull …

Red Bull buys Berger’s stake in Toro Rosso, what does it mean ?

Sebastien Bourdais still not assured of his 2009 F1 drive and increasingly frustrated

End of 2007 season meant also the end of pay drivers in Formula 1. The last of them disappeared with Spyker team and so we haven’t seen any of them on the 2008 Formula 1 grid. This might also be one of the reasons why no driver lost his seat this year (except of course Super Aguri guys).

But if we are to believe Sebastien Bourdais (interview for GPUpdate.net), the pay driver institution is about to return.

“If it was just a team principal decision we would have already signed for next season. It is purely a financial issue unfortunately. Obviously it doesn’t really matter what they want if you don’t have the money. It is now a pretty simple, but nasty game. If you find the money you will be all right but if you don’t they put you on hold. They can’t make a decision until they have all the cards in their hands and I’m just playing the waiting game. I never expected it would be like this. This was not part of the deal. When I signed up the team looked to have enough funds but then…(pauses)… I don’t think I can comment too much about it really but mister Mateschitz is just doing what he said he was going to do. He will invest less and it will probably get worse next year. The team is unable to find good sponsors and when that is the case they just have to look for well funded drivers.”

Surprised ? Not really. Although Dietrich Mateschitz says he never put the Toro Rosso up for sale it must be clear to anyone that he can’t afford to support 2 Formula 1 teams, each building their own chassis. The team would either need a strong cash rich partner, generous title sponsor or a driver that could bring either cash or some sort of other benefit for the team or its current backers.

Cash rich partners are in short supply in the current economic climate and so may be the generous sponsors. So the only other avenue to cash are the right drivers. Although some media connected also Rubens Barrichello with the Toro Rosso seat it does look like the serious candidates left for the 2009 Toro Rosso drive are Sato, Buemi, Bourdais and Senna (who will also test with Toro Rosso this winter). Which one of them could pay his way to 2009 Formula 1 racing ?

Update:
This is what Takuma Sato had to say on the topic of buying the Toro Rosso seat:

I really don’t have cash. But of course I’d be very happy to bring a personal sponsor because if you add to the team’s budget it will make the team stronger. But not so much to buy yourself the seat, that’s obviously the second story. Of course we’re negotiating all the possibilities to have personal sponsors, but I really don’t know.

I’m here to drive, and from a driver’s point of view just to do the best in the cockpit. In terms of the engineering, I’m very happy to work (with Toro Rosso). The sponsor talk, I let my manager do. Hopefully the team will make a decision towards me, that’s only my point of view, but I cannot really prepare a budget.

Hopefully, maybe with this difficult economy, some good personal sponsors will support us and that will be an extra bonus for me.

Read also: Toro Rosso and Takuma Sato – Can That Go Wrong ?

By the way, how is talk like this helping Bourdais’ cause ?

Photo: Red Bull/GEPA

Toro Rosso looking for well funded drivers – says Bourdais

Anthony Davidson, no longer on anyone's radar ?

It has been a week since the grand 2008 F1 season finale, it is about the time to begin the evaluations here. Not everything went according to pre-season predictions, some teams did better some much worse than expected (or hoped). But let’s forget about the cars and focus on the drivers here. This is the part one of my 2008 Formula 1 driver rankings, positions 22 to 16.

22nd, 21st – tie Takuma Sato, Anthony Davidson

These 2 guys occupy the last 2 positions by default. They only made it to the grid in Australia in the last minute. They had only 4 races in a bad car and no chance to showcase their skills. They have the honour to be the only 2 drivers not to finish the 2008 season. While Anthony Davidson seems to have been forgotten by the F1 team principals, Takuma Sato is still in the running for the 2008 seat with Toro Rosso.

20th Adrian Sutil

Why both Force India drivers have been retained by Vijay Mallya is not too clear to me. A year ago Sutil was the hot property tipped to join McLaren, this year he could not even match Fisichella who seldom does better than his team mates… He had his moment of fame in Monaco but that was too little in my opinion. Thumbs down.

19th Giancarlo Fisichella

I did believe that Fisichella’s signing by Force India was a smart thing. Vijay Mallya praised Fisichella’s development input and perhaps that is something they still need for next year. On the track however he did not show too much. He was marginally better than Adrian Sutil but should he measure himslef against Sutil ? Fisichella is the guy who asa Renault’s “new number one” planned to fight for the drivers title back in 2007 after Alonso left for McLaren…

18th Nelson Piquet

Nelson Piquet was long my candidate for the coveted 20th place but the late season performance surge elevated him at least above the Force India drivers in my rankings. He is the only driver outqualified by his team mate on every occasion and the fact that his team mate is Fernando Alonso is not an excuse. The F1 seemed to be out of his league for better part of the season and he should consider himself lucky to have kept his race seast for another season. He did improve towards the end of season though and that was perhaps that light at the end of the tunnel Briatore was waiting for.

17th Jenson Button

From the front pages of racing magazines to obscurity, that is what happened to Jenson Button between summer of 2006 and now. Having to drive dog of the car Honda for 2 consecutive seasons sure does not help. But I would at least expect him to do better than about to be fired Rubens Barrichello. If last year was bad, this one was even worse. The only excuse probably is that Honda did not care that much about this season …

16th Heikki Kovalainen

Heikki Kovalainen is for me the biggest disappointment of the 2008 season. I seriously expected him to give some hard time to Lewis Hamilton this year but he never came even close. Yes he won a race but that is not enough for a guy with a championship winning car. When somebody has the fastest or almost fastest car on the grid, that somebody simply can’t finish 7th in the drivers championship…

Whom would you place into bottom 7 ? Which one of the drivers above you think should not be there ?

2008 Formula 1 – Wolf’s Driver rankings – Part 1 – 22nd to 16th

Toro Rosso search for their 2009 drivers has been on for weeks. The team does not plan to make any decisions until late November early December but the drivers evaluations are going on. Sebastien Buemi tested the STR03 in Jerez on Wedndesday, Thursday saw the Formula 1 return of Takuma Sato, his first F1 drive since the demise of Super Aguri. Sato may not be the greatest driver F1 has ever seen but he has definitely been very popular, especially in Japan. Here is a little photogallery of Sato’s return behind the Formula 1 wheel. I think this the first time I see him driving a F1 car that is not powered by Honda …

Click on the thumbnails to enlarge the photos.

See also – Toro Rosso and Takuma Sato – Can that go wrong ?

Photos: Red Bull/GEPA

The return of Sato – Takuma Sato testing for Toro Rosso – Photos

Takuma Sato ready to test for Toro Rosso

Not surprisingly there has been renewed talk about the future of Toro Rosso following their maiden F1 win last weekend. There are basically 2 questions:

a) Who will drive for Toro Rosso next year
b) What will happen with the team after 2009 season

Not much has changed with the drivers situation. Although the Sebastien Bourdais has been doing better recently, especially in qualifying, his future is still very uncertain. On one hand the team bosses sound a bit happier about Le Seb’s performances, on the other hand Bourdais himself does not see much point in continuing with the team if he can’t get a car that would suit his driving style. So let’s see. For the time being Toro Rosso are looking at the Sebastien Buemi and Takuma Sato. Both are with the team in Jerez for the final test session of the season. Buemi was behind the wheel yesterday, today (Thursday) will be Sato’s turn. There hasn’t been much said about Bruno Senna recently though …

What is more interesting is what lies ahed of the team itself. I was wondering whether Dietrich Mateschitz would change his mind about selling the team. But what the media say this week is right, he never put the team up for sale in the first place:

Dietrich Mateschitz and Gerhard Berger

“Toro Rosso has not been for sale at any price up till now, and this remains the case. We are not actively looking to sell, and the win on Sunday has not changed anything. The whole story about selling was a result of a misunderstanding. Only one thing is certain: from 2010 a new rule will prohibit synergies between two teams – then we will have to look at our position. We’re waiting now on an exact definition of this new rule. The nice thing about the whole situation is, as brash as this may sound, we want to concentrate on one team, but we don’t necessarily have to. It would be irresponsible to run two self-sufficient teams.”

Interesting. He may say that nothing has changed but thay may not be the case. There does seem to be an agreement in place (although I am not aware of it being official) allowing the customer cars to run until 2009 season. From season 2010 they are to become proper constructors. After demise of Super Aguri the only team concerned today is Toro Rosso. After Belgian GP some rumours appeared suggesting that teams are working on some arrangement that would allow Toro Rosso to continue in its current guise beyond 2009. Vettel’s Monza win may however change the mood. The biggest opponents of the customer cars were Williams and Force India. Williams, the former Formula 1 powerhouse, hasn’t won a race since Montoya’s Brazilina GP win back in 2004. They for sure are not too happy seeing a customer car getting a race win.

Force India (the former race winning Jordan), without a single point must also envy the situation when the former Minardi is collecting points on regular basis and on top of it adds up a race win … The $4 million payout from Red Bull might have stopped Force India’s arbitration but it likely won’t stop Force India’s opposition to the very idea of Toro Rosso running as a customer car. At the end of the day more points for Toro Rosso means more prize money, more prize money for Toro Rosso means less prize for others …

The future of Toro Rosso

Takuma Sato

When I first heard about the possible Sato – Toro Rosso connection I found it to be quite good joke. There is a lot of competition for the vacancy created by Vettel’s move to Red Bull. Well, of course. Many drivers want to get to F1 and Toro Rosso’s is so far the only confirmed vacancy for 2009 F1 season. Now it however looks that Toro Rosso guys are seriously considering Sato for 2009 season and the more I think about that connection the more sense it makes. Here is why I think why:

Business

Japan is a big market (also for the nergy drinks) and one of the few developed ones where Red Bull is yet to make it big. There are several reasons for that but at the end, it is all about marketing. Takuma Sato is still very popular back home (nothing against Nakajima, but it will take him a while to achieve Sato’s status). The combination of Japanese F1 hero with Red Bull brand may be something what Mr. Mateschitz may be willing to try.

Toro Rosso is up for sale, looking for buyers and also partners and sponsors. I can’t read Mateschitz’s mind but I believe that as long as it makes commercial sense, he may continue his partnership with Toro Rosso in some form even after the team is sold. If the Japanese connection starts bringing some business results for his company, he may be willing to stay on board as a sponsor for example. And that is something that Mr. Berger may like too. Continuing cash flow from Red Bull would not hurt…

Driver

Unless Toro Rosso decides to return to the Minardi days of pay drivers they will also select the drivers based on their skills and experience. Berger and Tost said several times the ideal line up for 2009 season would be a combination of an experienced driver and a rookie. Until now that looked like a good omen for disappointing F1 rookie Sebastien Bourdais. But if the experience is the main criteria the numbers talk in Sato’s favour – 92 F1 races, 1 front row start, 1 podium, 10th place race finish with Super Aguri car in their first season, few points scored in their second one.

I would also say that Sato’s sometime rather erratic nature may quite fit the image of Red Bull and Toro Rosso. Few would doubt Sato’s ability to give the bull the wings

Competition

At the moment the drivers under consideration are Sato’s former team mate Anthony Davidson, Red Bull’s test driver and current GP2 racer Sebastien Buemi and currently second in GP standings Bruno Senna. Then there is of course Sebastien Bourdais whos seat is by no means safe.

Anthony Davidson is considered by many to be a better driver than Takuma Sato. It may or may not be the case, but I am afraid that the relative lack of race experience and lesser marketability would play against him.

Sebastien Bourdais is probably the main competition for Sato at the moment. But as I see it, he has only one major advantage over Sato. After Vettel’s departure Bourdais would be the one to provide some continuity. The question is if that is Berger and Tost now want and need … Continuity does not equal experience …

Sebastien Buemi (can be seen in this Red Bull Lake Balaton video) has a mountain to climb. Gerhard Berger considers him to be one of the few current GP2 drivers capable of making the step up to F1. Berger however also says that for that step to happen one needs to win the GP2 championship … At this moment Buemi is quite far away from achieving that. In any case, I do not see him to be Sato’s direct competion for the race seat.

Bruno Senna is not doing too bad in GP2 and he is still in the title fight. Although he was not mentioned yet among the drivers Toro Rosso will be testing in Jerez he is obviously one of the candidates. But same as in the case of Buemi, I do not see him to be a competitor for Sato. Buemi and Senna are probably both candidates for the same “rookie seat”. Senna’s name however is very marketable. If you are good and your name is Senna it is hard not to get in F1 …

I do not want to say that Sato would be the perfect choice for Toro Rosso, but would he be a bad choice ?

And so here is my wild guess of the 2009 Toro Rosso line up (in time of writing, August 2008):

Race drivers:
Takuma Sato (experience, marketable in Japan)
Bruno Senna (rookie, name marketable everywhere)

Tester:
Anthony Davidson

Feel free to disagree …

Toro Rosso and Takuma Sato – Can that go wrong ?

To make it even more difficult to keep the engine statistics up-to-date Red Bull team has decided to keep David Coulthard on the same Renault engine for the third race in a row in Hungary this weekend. Well on paper it is third race in a row but his British GP barely lasted a lap . Here are the reasons behind the unusual decision – Fabrice Lom, Renault, in charge of Red Bull engine supply:

“This is the first time we have taken this decision. First of all his V8 has not done too much running. Plus, having our two drivers out of synch on the engine cycle means that we won’t be putting all our eggs in the same basket. This decision will also help us in the second half of the season in terms of the logistical challenge. And finally, it means that David will not have to use the same engine in Spa and Monza, which are two of the toughest challenges on the calendar.”

In the early days of two race rule there were worries the teams may choose deliberately not to finish the race to be able to run with fresh engine in next one. It actually happened in 2005 when BAR retired both cars (Button and Sato) on the final lap of Australian GP and again in Australia in 2006 when Button stopped his smoking car meters from the finish line. Now we have a team choosing to use the same engine for third time .

Photo: Red Bull/GEPA

Third race for Coulthard’s engine

It has been a bit quiet on the rumour front since the third edition but but still not a total radio silence. And surprise surprise, Sato has been talked about again.

This time not in connection with the “future Honda North America Team” but an existing one – Force India. The rumour has it, as Swiss publication Motorsport Aktuell reports, Force India F1 may be thinking about changing their engine supplier. Some meetings are reported to have taken place in Montreal between Force India and Honda. While Force India have a contract with Ferrari at the moment, the sweetener that allegedly makes Honda deal more attractive is inclusion of Honda’s KERS system in the package. After collapse of Super Aguri Honda currently do not not supply customer engines to another F1 team. The Honda engine / KERS package would come at a discount (the rumoured sum is EUR10 mil a year less than what Force India pays to Ferrari) under condition that Force India would also take care of Honda’s headache and give a race seat to ex-Jordan/Honda, ex-BAR/Honda and ex-Super Aguri/Honda driver Takuma Sato. Sounds to me like pay driver deal on offer … I do not know why but this does not feel like a deal Mallya would do …

The other rumour connects Bruno Senna (currently 2nd in GP2) with BMW Sauber.

German media report that BMW Sauber are in “intensive talks” with Bruno Senna about his involvement in F1 next year. Both test or race driver seats are allegedly being discussed. Sport Bild reported that talks between Gerhard Berger (a friend of Bruno’s late uncle Ayrton Senna) and BMW-Sauber boss Mario Theissen already took place last week in Magny Cours. Theissen and Berger also used to work together as BMW Motorsports directors …

The reports go on further saying that “Senna is determined to get a test and then BMW will decide.” The same magazine also said that Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Williams may be interested in Senna. But if that is the case, why would Berger, the current Toro Rosso boss, go to BMW to look for a seat for Senna … The Senna F1 connection however does not end there. The Spanish bank Santander, Senna’s personal backer, is one of McLaren sponsors.

Staying with current GP2 drivers –  Former (2007) Spyker F1 test driver, Adrian Valles is said to be looking for a way to return to F1 action. The Spanish driver is reportedly in talks with “a British based F1 team”. There are 6 F1 teams based in Britain, but according to El Mundo (link in Spanish, but Google can translate) Williams and Red Bull are those considered (or considering ?). Valles is from Valencia and it looks like he would like be on his hometown F1 race grid in 2009 …

Photos: Super Aguri F1, iSport

2009 Formula 1 Drivers Rumours – Fourth Edition