Don't Text and Drive: Bourdais reportedly fired by Toro Rosso via SMS originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 17 Aug 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Officially Official: Toro Rosso confirms Alguersuari to replace Bourdais

Officially Official: Toro Rosso confirms Alguersuari to replace Bourdais originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 21 Jul 2009 08:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Toro Rosso reportedly replaces Sebastien Bourdais with 19-year-old Jamie Alguersuari originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Sebastian Vettel en route to receive the Lorenzo Bandini Trophy - Click above for a high-res image gallery

Gallery: Sebastian Vettel receives Lorenzo Bandini Trophy

Sebastian Vettel drives his Toro Rosso on public streets to pick up award originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 05 Jun 2009 09:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Musical Sebastiens: Toro Rosso confirms Buemi for 2009 originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 15 Jan 2009 07:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Formula One fans and team members alike will be disappointed by reports that the Red Bulletin may be cancelled. The magazine is put out by Red Bull, owners of the Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso teams, in four daily editions at each grand prix on the Formula One calendar. It has become a fixture of the paddock and grandstands since its introduction at Monaco in 2005.

The self-proclaimed "almost independent F1 newspaper" incorporates current news, interviews and feature articles in a humorous tone, and is distributed at the races free of charge in editions of up to 10,000 copies each. Unfortunately, it reportedly costs millions for Red Bull to produce, with a multilingual staff of 25 working out of a mobile publishing office with a Heidelberg 7.5t printing press. Although Red Bull will reportedly fund other publications, its grandiose parties and other expensive marketing initiatives are also tipped to be cut from the erstwhile seemingly endless cash-flow. We guess once they came down from their Taurine high, the bean-counters finally got their way.

[Source: GrandPrix.com]

REPORT: Red Bull to shut down the Red Bulletin originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 07:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

If you think you've got what it takes to be an F1 driver, you might want to grab a flight to Jerez, Spain, on the double, as Scuderia Toro Rosso bosses Gerhard Berger and Franz Tost have just landed there to evaluate new drivers for next year. Although they're clearly happy with the performance of Sebastian Vettel, who took a landmark victory at last weekend's Italian Grand Prix, the young German driver is being called up to the Red Bull senior team, leaving a vacant seat at STR.

Among the drivers Berger and Tost are evaluating are Honda-supported on-again-off-again F1 pilot Takuma Sato and the team's own reserve driver Sebastien Buemi, who just placed sixth in the GP2 Series. However Berger, himself a ten-time grand prix winner, says they won't make a final decision until November or December. With two-time world champion Fernando Alonso's future still up in the air, BMW's Nick Heidfeld, Honda's veteran Rubens Barrichello and Renault's Nelsinho Piquet could be up for grabs next season, making for enticing prospects to fill Vettel's vacancy after the team has shown considerable promise with last weekend's performance.

[Source: F1-Live, Photo by Peter Fox/Getty]

F1 hopefuls head to Jerez, Spain for Vettel's seat at STR originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Super Aguri undergoing testing at Jerez

Well that didn't take long. After only two years on the grid, Super Aguri is up for sale. Unlike most of the other "new" teams that took over and rebranded themselves from previous teams, Super Aguri actually put up the bond to join the 2006 Formula One championship as an additional entry. Since then, however, the team has had difficulty putting together the enormous budget required of a modern F1 team, falling into debt to the tune of $47 million, despite getting support from Honda and running old cars.

Now, following the emergence of Force India and the confirmation of an Indian Grand Prix in two years, another Indian business consortium is looking at buying its way into the sport. The Spice Group telecommunications company, which already sponsors Indian former F1 driver Narain Karthikeyan's Team India A1GP car, is reported to be negotiating to acquire Super Aguri. Tata, which is inching closer to its acquisition of Land Rover and Jaguar (which itself once had its own F1 team), is reported to be possibly supporting the bid. The price: $1, plus the coverage of the team's debts. The deal hasn't been finalized, but would involve bringing Karthikeyan back to the grid, and leaving Aguri Suzuki in charge. Spice confirms that it is talking with Aguri and a second team. In related news, Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz has reiterated that Scuderia Toro Rosso is not for sale.

[Source: F1-Live, Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty]

REPORT: Super Aguri on sale for $1 originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 30 Jan 2008 18:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Speed's tenure has been a forgettable year-and-a-half of no results and more than a few skirmishes and crashes -- not all of which are entirely Speed's fault. Even the Red Bull cars, piloted by the much more experienced Mark Weber and David Coulthard, haven't shown too much life. The drama has been stoked by the STR team owners', Berger and Franz Tost, increasingly acidic and public comments about how displeased they are with the STR driver lineup. Things reached a nadir when, after Speed's exit from the European Grand Prix, he was physically assaulted by Tost.

Speed says he doesn't want to want to ruin his relationship with parent team Red Bull, and would work with them even if not in Formula 1 -- but he wouldn't race for STR again for any amount of money. As for the premiere motorsport category, with Speed's ouster, the record of American drivers in F1 remains, uh, nothing short of dismal.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

[Source: Daily F1]

U.S. driver Scott Speed makes his official exit from F1 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 31 Jul 2007 14:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's a sad state of affairs when the pure talent of a racing driver isn't enough to advance his career. In the case of Sebastien Bourdais, the top teams on the F1 grid have apparently been blind to his domination in Champ Cars, as our favorite Frenchman (okay, second favorite, after Talladega Nights arch-villain Jean Girard) looks like he's headed for his fourth consecutive title in the open-wheel series.

Enter Nicholas Todt, who is out to change Bourdais' fortunes and secure him a drive for the 2008 Formula One season. The fellow Frenchman did wonders for Felipe Massa, who started out at Sauber (then powered by Ferrari), then took a test seat at Ferrari (where Nick's dad Jean is king), before moving him back to Sauber (still with Ferrari engines) to race for another season, before taking the race seat at Ferrari alongside Schumacher. Now Massa is a contender for the title.

Nicholas Todt has now signed on to manage Bourdais' racing activities in Europe. In between ChampCar races, Bourdais is driving at Le Mans for Peugeot, and has been testing for Scuderia Toro Rosso. Todt has reportedly arranged for the talented 28-year-old driver to test again for the STR, which uses engines supplied by (you guessed it) Ferrari, and the rumors are that they might have secured a race seat with the squad for next season.

Could Bourdais prove to be the next star "rookie" in F1? Time will tell, we hope, but this proven entity is no rookie. Shame he'll have to start from the back of the grid, but his apparent willingness to do so only confirms his determination.

Related post:
F1 is missing out on Sebastein Bourdais

[Source: GrandPrix.com]

Report: Toro Rosso gives Bourdais wings! originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 25 Apr 2007 18:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Red Bull has finally confirmed the engine suppliers for both its F1 teams - Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso - for next season and beyond.

Last season, Ferrari supplied the engines to the main Red Bull team, while the second squad, Toro Rosso, was powered by engines from independent supplier Cosworth. Ferrari was hoping to power both teams for next season, and keep Red Bull Racing, with veteran drivers David Coulthard and Mark Webber already confirmed, from posing too great a challenge to the boys in red. But newly-crowned Ferrari CEO Jean Todt can't always get what he wants, as Red Bull switches to Renault power for 2007.

Toro Rosso (formerly Minardi) will become even more authentically Italian, motivated by Ferrari power for 2007 and 2008 with an option for 2009. STR is run by former Ferrari driver Gerhard Berger, but struggles to escape the back of the field. Last year the team also fielded Italian driver Tonio Liuzzi, but they've yet to announce their line-up for next season.

Had Ferrari secured deals with both Red Bull teams, their engines would be in over a third of the cars on the grid next year, including their own as well as the Spyker cars which switch from Toyota to Ferrari power for next season. Maranello already secured special dispensation from the FIA to supply engines to two teams, and that should be enough to gain extra testing data and support from the back of the field as Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa fight for the title.

[Source: GrandPrix.com]

Renault and Ferrari give Red Bull wings!!! originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 01 Nov 2006 13:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.