Scuderia Toro Rosso will have a completely new driver line-up for the 2012 Formula 1 season, made up of Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne. It will be the first time since the team’s 2006 debut that it will begin the year with an all new line-up. Both drivers have come through the Red Bull Junior Driver programme and the decision to promote Daniel and Jean-Eric to Scuderia Toro Rosso was taken by the team in conjunction with Red Bull.
“Over the past year both Daniel and Jean-Eric have proved their worth and I expect them to make a significant contribution to the team’s performance next year,” said Franz Tost. “Daniel has the benefit of having actually raced in Grands Prix for much of this year, while Jean-Eric proved he could adapt quickly to the demands of driving a Formula 1 car. As they have both worked with the team and its engineers very recently, this should allow us to get up to speed right from the start of winter testing in a couple of months time.”
Ricciardo (22) had been talking to Caterham F1 Team about a drive next year, after a handful of races with HRT this year.
“This is a really big deal for me and something I have wanted ever since I was driving for Toro Rosso on Friday mornings at the races in the first part of last season,” said the Australian. “To be honest, I am still jumping up and down with excitement at the news. Joining Scuderia Toro Rosso was always my real goal.”
Vergne (21) has already worked with Scuderia Toro Rosso, most recently, driving in Free Practice 1 at three of the last four Grands Prix of the 2011 season.
“I definitely feel ready to make the move, even if I know there is a big difference between testing and actually racing,” he said.
Having known them both personally in F3, I think we will be in for a few surprises
Both are extremly quick and stood head and shoulders above the rest in their respective years.
Harsh on Buemi & Algersuari I think.
It is harsh, but they have both had their chance and whilst performed well…neither have been spectacular.
If the big teams won’t try younger talent then I think it’s almost admirable that the smaller teams rotate their drivers.
I think Williams should sign Alguersuari… I think he did a great job this year.
What are your thoughts, Joe?
A rough decision for Buemi and Alguersuari, but both have proved to be good F1 drivers, but there’s no sign either are the next Vettel.
Rather than crying about the injustice of it all I hope both of them take it like men and realise that without Red Bull supporting their route all the way they’d likely have had no F1 career at all.
As the press release says, Red Bull are all about finding the stars of the future.
Buemi and Alguersuari are clearly not of that calibre.
No one ever said F1 was nice.
So . . . Trulli truly will be at Caterham after all?
No
Then who?
Senna
Senna should go for no3 at Mclaren now PDR has left and move into a race seat when Lewis up sticks for Red Bull in 2013
he was in touch with fernandes about a drive last year when he left HRT at i believe one of the best out of the drivers availible (unless barichello is for some ,mad reason released by williams)
OH please goodness yes.
Don’t really understand how Toro Rosso could have expected more from their previous drivers…
Why 2 rookies? I’d go for 1 experienced driver and 1 rookie. Thus keeping either Buemi or Alguersuari.
Neither are rookies in the Lewis Hamilton or Vitaly Petrov sense though are they, one has half a season under his belt and the other has mileage in F1 machines at race weekends.
4 drivers out of 24 is enough. We dont need to see talent held out of f1 by Dietrich’s unlimited funding taking any more seats.
Joe,
Are there too many good drivers now chasing 24 seats
There are always too many good drivers chasing 24 seats
I think the problem is if you look at the drivers, and group them into 2 categories, (1) Rookies of 1-2 years, (2) experienced drivers.
The first gets moved around alot, the 2nd is where the extra seats appear. Rookies who stay becom group 2 but need old memebers of group 2 to leave.
Since the 2009 season there has been an INCREASE in experienced drivers instead of a decrease meaning all the rookies who should stay have nowhere to go. Schumacher is the reason for the increase. Raikkonen is back, Trulli, Webber, Vettel, Alonso, Massa, Rosberg, etc… all are still there, none have left.
In my opinion it is because with the testing restrictions (something that has been mentioned [for PR purposes or not] in chosing older drivers over fresh talent), that no group 2 drivers have left giving way for no group 1 to move into group 2. And if you can’t move inot group 2 then the only way is out.
What’s your view on this decision Joe, justified?
He who pays the piper calls the tune
He who pays the piper calls the tune
Definitely so. But it would be interesting to know what the tune exactly is. They are looking for “second” Vettel? What for, actually? They already have one under contract for foreseeable future. And this year Red Bull didn’t show they were ready to tolerate infighting within the team when “first” Vettel is under threat. So if they do manage to discover one more gem on Vettel scale this driver would be better off moving to some other top team rather than RBR after his stint with STR.
It looks more like an example of self-serving corporate management decision. Corporate center is budgeting development program for young drivers. This program should deliver some results. But with line-up in top-tier team stuck the only way to show some activity for managers in charge of this program is giving the ax to current drivers and replacing them with someone new (and therefore opening the door for next rounds of funding). So if Webber manages to sort out his game next year I wouldn’t bet on bright future for Vergne and Ricciardo.
I think it was time for buemi to be moved aside, he’s not done bad this year, but has never showed anything ‘special’. Algersuari has had a few very strong races this year, but this move makes sense to me.
Redbull obviously didnt think either was good enough to step up to the ‘works’ team, so why not try some new blood?
Kevil,
I don’t know how you can dismiss Buemi like that. I think he did a decent job.
It beggars belief almost that neither got a chance to put timed laps in using the rbr7, surely Red Bull owed them that opportunity? Or will that have happened in a Milton Keynes simulator room?
Think Buemi was solid this year, dude.
But it seems that solid is not akin to “next Vettel”
What a career choice – You can be 1 of the top 50 or so in your profession in the world, Deliver a good performance over a 12 month period, Have little or no negatives to your name – and still get canned !
Guess they won’t starve though.
New term, new kids.
Well, didn’t really see that one coming…. I’m sure we have not seen the last of either of these two in F1, but it may be tough finding their way to a top seat now. I know Alguersuari was certain he was in line for Webbo’s seat, looks now like he was mistaken.
Alguersuari to HRT and Buemi to Caterham?
Who knows?
Might suit HRT if they really want to be Spanish, and Buemi is probably an upgrade on Trulli.
HRT’s building for the future. Pedro will drop back when Ferdy takes the box seat….
That is true. Helmut Marko is certainly ruthless.
Makes his treatment of Webber looks quite fair afterall!
There were rumours that something like this would happen throughout the season. However, i think it is not fair to the drivers to decide on this so late.
Thats a real shame for Seb and Jaime, so late in the year too. Interested in seeing what Vergne can do, dont think Dan has what it takes but who knows.
“dont think Dan has what it takes but who knows.”
Do you wish to elaborate?
I assume that Jean-Eric has done a seat-fit already, so will Daniel have done one on the quiet in order to prep next year’s car..?
I’d say JEV and Ricciardo both have seats moulded in both cars already. Both have tested for both teams after all.
Well you did say Marko had a record of putting promising new drivers up against one another. I guess you were bang on the money!
Unfortunately, Ricciardo seems to be one of those drivers that will have his passage eased for him as much as possible, as he says the right things etc. Much like Vettel.
I feel bad for Alguersari.
Alguersari did a great job this year, but people seem to forget he got the seat in the first place partially due to his bags of money.
jaime to HRT
buemi to caterham
sutil to williams
di resta and hulk at force india
Could it be the strongest grid in f1 history?
no.
Maldo, Hulk is unproven and without racing HRT exists, pic isn’t ultra fast compared to others, Raikkonen may be slow off the mark, Schumacher is slow, more rookies.. etc…
Hulk is unproven? Well, apart from that entire season of F1 he did with Williams last year.
He was about equal with Barrichello, so he’s not a bad peddler.
His Brazil pole was flukey though, no question.
Does the Hulk deserve to be in F1? No doubt.
He has had a year out of racing. That doesn’t help according to even experienced guys like Schumacher.
Hulkenberg was about the same as Barichello mostly, which isn’t saying much. Captain 4 years in GP2 and crashes alot is nearly matching Barichello.
I don’t think 1 year that was more that was now 2 seasons ago is really something to stand his career on.
And comparitively Hulkenberg is rather unproven, almost everyone on the driver market has had much more (Buemi 3x, Alg 2.5x, Sen 1.5x, Sutil 5x, all with up to date recent experience and constant racing).
Hulkenberg has rh experience of D’Ambrosio with the lack of driving Schumacher had. And the funding of neither.
Bit harsh on Alguesaurus I think but then it’s hardly unexpected. The odd thing about the Red Bull ‘academy’ is that no one has wondered as to the effectiveness of Helmut Marko leading it. He seems to have a good track record of cocking things up.
I personally feel Buemi is never going to be anything more than OK. I could see Jaime having a future outside Red Bull as he has shown potential to be something more, but on the other hand if his only option is HRT, that’s pretty much a guaranteed death sentence for his future F1 prospects.
So the next part of the jigsaw is what happens at Force India and the impact that has on Williams. Odd times where Williams are the team waiting to pick the last man standing instead of driving the market.
Forgot to add, of course, that Williams would be nuts to not keep Rubens
Sorry, no. There’s no dearth of younger experienced F1 punters out there, some of whom even have money backing them, so they’d be mad to keep him. Every year he underachieves more.
agreed…sadly.
I think Rubens and all the older guys who have had 15-20 year careers should retire gracefully and let the young talent have a chance.
Enough already!!
I suppose it wouldn’t have made sense to keep them both if Marko don’t see them as champs and it wouldn’t have made sense to fire them both either given the job they did.
I liked how you named the article “Massacre”
. Do you think we could see SB or JA as the third driver at Red Bull? I thought one of these guys would be given a shot at the big boy team, but it looks like its going to be about who’s still driving at Toro Rosso when Webber decides to move on.
Wonder if this means that Webbers seat is more secure post 2012.
I think it’s a shame both have been dropped. Both where improving season after season, Buemi had some bad luck this season and feel he got unfair criticism, Alguersuari turned his season around. But I guess they wanted Vergne and Ricciardo in very quickly, but why do they have so many drivers in a similar age group? You are not going to find a driver that’s going to excel straightaway in these circumstances now with no testing, drivers need to grow, both of these drivers showed that. But I guess Ricciardo and Vergne are both highly rated.
What annoys me though, is how late this decision is, where are both of them meant to go? Their careers are effectively ruined at the age of 21 and 23, I am disappointed on how they have handled it, but then I don’t have the full info, so…
All I can say is, as a Buemi and Toro Rosso fan, I am gutted, disappointed.
Wish them both the best… Hope Buemi can find a seat elsewhere, think Alguersuari is safe for a seat at HRT.
Vergne and Ricciardo both seem promising, will their careers get ruined being pitted against each other? Shame for Buemi and Alguersuari, apart from Vettel, these two I would say have been the best to come out of the Toro Rosso team, especially Buemi who is consistent with occasional flashes.
I think it’s pretty rough on Buemi and in particular Alguersuari, who was showing real maturity in the latter half of the season.
If I was at WIlliams I’d snag Alguersuari if Hulkenberg isn’t available, for sure.
Joe, how much do you think the RB f1 effort is about Dietrich, Helmut and Gerhard going racing and how much is about a good advertising ROI? I mean, does one of the new drivers have more potential as a brand ambassador than the outgoing guys, or is speed the only factor?
Webber suggests its about the racing I guess
It must be safer to play drums for Spinal Tap than racing for STR
Will be a big boost for the Aussie GP as they can promote something other then Webber. Now there are 2 French drivers surely that will help bring back the French GP.
Three French drivers…
Anyone that has followed F1 for any length of time will be well aware that there is little sentiment involved … a “bit harsh” on Buemi & Algesuari, probably (given the timing) but they would have known the deal they were getting going in and as someone mentioned earlier they may not have had an F1 career without Red Bull support through heir early careers.
The 2 new boys will get the same deal, ie. 2 or so years to pull off something extraordinary like Vettel did @ Monza and move up to the main team or risk being replaced by the next “rising star”.
Great news for Danny Ricci! Hopefully the ’12 TR isn’t a total shed…
a daring move, one of them could rise to the challenge or we could simply see more of the same.RB certainly want the next Vettel don’t they, apply massive pressure and see if they can handle it .. if the car is not up to it though we could end up seeing nothing of their true potential and two seasons down the line ..
So now Jean-Eric Vergne joins Romain Grosjean & Charles Pic as a trio when it comes to French formula one drivers on the circuit.
Joe should we expect to hear an announcement about a return of the French grand prix in the not to distant future?
Read back on the blog and you will find the answer somewhere in the autumn, alternatively search for “Paul Ricard” and it will no doubt come up.
Anything to spice things up or a new point of interest at RBR Jr. is a plus for me whether it makes the team better or not. The reason being that -and maybe it’s just me- there is something about Toro Rosso that strikes me as so boring and so unattractive as a fan that even seeing their name in a story headline makes me lethargic with indifference. I find something worth routing for in pretty much every team except TR. All of this in spite of the fact that I really admire and appreciate all the effort and sponsorship Red Bull invests in so many extreme sports and ventures that make the world a richer place IMO (even if it is all part of a marketing strategy).
You obviously don’t know Giorgio Ascanelli. Boring is not the word. He’s the only engineer I can think of who can tell jokes in Latin. Oh no, not true, I just thought of another… In any case, STR is anything but boring. Yes, Franz Tost may be a little dour on the surface, but beneath the Red Bull logos beats a racing heart. It is a team filled with great characters.
I know his professional background and Steve Machette loves talking about him during broadcasts, but few fans would get excited about a team they don’t like because of its technical director, unless it was Newey moving to that team or, this goes without saying, to their team. No doubt, if I was a traveling journalist with personal relationships with numerous members of all the teams, I could find a reason to get excited about all the teams and even something as mundane as an HRT pit stop if their lollipop man happened to be the funniest/smartest/whatever mechanic in F1.
However, engineering personnel are very low down the totem poll, even for knowledgeable fans, in the aspect of generating interest.due to their personal qualities Team history, nationality, drivers, colorful underdog owners, etc. are more the stuff that is going to generate loyalty and interest. While anecdotal, I have seen many fan polls in which Toro Rosso finishes at the bottom in terms of fan interest or favorites as well as more comments and topics regarding indifference for the team.
Giorgio Ascanelli was the undoubted star of that McLaren documentary series from 1993. If only I could find the VHS tape…
It is around online, under “The Team: A Season With McLaren”. Fascinating to watch, I even saw the mechanic with the dodgy moustache pop up fitting a wiring loom on an MP4-12C on a recent BBC program
Torro Rosso could certainly benefit from looking a little less like the parent team. They need to express some more individuality to really get the fans fired up. Of course, Corporate branding being what it is, it’s probably unlikely to happen.
Have to agree. It’s hard enough to get excited about a sports drink team when you could follow a team with heritage, let alone a sports drink B team.
I wonder if in a year we will be calling this an inspired gamble or an act of folly… Both young drivers are promising but then the current incumbents don’t exactly look like slouches and could well have fitted in elsewhere if most of the seats hadn’t already been taken…. Of the two I think Jaime looked the most exciting prospect but it is hard to tell sometimes.
I wonder if STR will suffer from not having a baseline to compare against and to help develop the car next season though.
I am sure it is a good choice, but how can we ever say that one lot was better than the other, if there was no yardstick by which to judge them.
telemetry? Times on the sim?
Granted not perfect nor open for arm chair enthusiasts to go through, but surely they will know, whether they hint or not…
That is the problem really. Ricciardo’s experience at HRT is hardly a good guideline as not only is Luizzi not very consistent, the cars don’t appear to be that consistent either.
I’m not in charge of STR but I would have kept one of them, moved Ricciardo over to STR and pay for Verne to have another seat. As it stands they won’t be able to tell if the drivers or the cars are good or bad, all they might be able to do is compare one driver to the other, not actually judge their pace. Putting one of them in at Caterham could actually have been a better grounding as squaring up to Kovalinen would be a great way to prove your speed.
I don’t think Liuzzi was inconsistent. The cars and engines certainly were. I think Liuzzi showed that up against the supposed next great hotshoe, he is still a match for the best. Alas, he has been in the wrong places at the wrong times. Luck, you see, is a big element of success in F1 and as Bernie E used to say, if you have an unlucky driver, you should fire him. Cynical-sounding, but then he kept Riccardo Patrese for many years…
I’d not considered it that way. It is just when you see some races when he shows really badly against a team-mate you think he is the problem but of course the car could just as easily be the issue.
Liuzzi is a strange one really, he seems able to put in performances that outperform the car on occasion but other times he can look very ordinary. Whether that was more car than him I suppose we will never know.
Certainly agree with you about luck – not many front-running drivers in F1 these days haven’t had some good fortune come their way to get up there. Also, look at people like Johnny Herbert – a bad luck magnet if ever there was one. His only piece of luck was that team bosses didn’t apply Bernie’s maxim too often!
This is fantastic news, great to see Daniel moving up the ranks to a mid-field car!
Joe, it was let slip that Total was a major reason why Grosjean got the seat at Lotus. Since Total is also a Red Bull sponsor, do you think they leaned on Red Bull/STR to take Jean-Eric Vergne? It makes sense to promote Ricciardo, but Vergne less so… unless Total is giving a bit of pressure to get more French drivers in there.
Le F1 Grand Prix de Total 2013 has a nice ring to it (or would if I could speak the language)
Not surprised by this, no doubt Vergne is less well known in UK. However watching the TF1 coverage in France you would think he was already driving a RedBull.
Whilst the two drivers leaving the team aren’t bad by any means they have so far not really shown sparkle or hints of precocious talent that I would expect from a well financed and researched long term young driver programme.
Vergne did win the British Formula 3 title last year.
I’ve just had another thought: Could there be more to this than meets the eye? There was talk of Red Bull buying a seat at Caterham. Could either of the existing STR drivers be moving there (or even seat-sharing) to test them against an established driver?
As I commented above, the problem with STR is that you don’t get much of a comparison against a known quantity so maybe the plan is to give Verne and Ricciardo F1 mileage while throwing one of their other drivers to the sharks so to speak.
No, I think not.
So, do you still think Trulli is on the way out? If so then presumably it will be forced from within the team rather than by someone else buying the seat – unless Caterham want to court the Russian money and give Petrov the seat.
I get the impression from your other posts you are sure Trulli won’t be racing next season. I hope he isn’t as he isn’t delivering any more but the team have confirmed him and are being very quiet about any possible replacement…