In October 2005, Dietrich Mateschitz, the Red Bull energy drink magnate, officially announced the acquisition of the small Minardi Team from Paul Stoddart, effectively creating a true satellite team aimed at developing new talents and testing innovative solutions that could later be used on the official Red Bull Racing cars. The new team kept its headquarters and facilities in Italy, in Faenza (province of Ravenna), and its new name became Scuderia Toro Rosso, the literal Italian translation of “Team Red Bull.” The Austrian team, however, did not capitalize on the twenty years of Formula 1 experience accumulated by the small Italian outfit, preferring instead to transfer its own know-how and use, for the 2006 season, the car Red Bull had raced in 2005, with very few changes, renamed STR1 and equipped with the same Cosworth V10 used in the Minardi PS05 in 2005.
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| TORO ROSSO STR1, Vitantonio Liuzzi Imola, San Marino GP 2006 |
The new technical regulations in fact allowed, by exception, the use of older-generation three-liter V10 engines, provided they were limited to a maximum speed of 16,700 rpm and equipped with an intake restrictor limited to 77 mm. With this rule, the FIA sought to make it unappealing to continue developing 3000 cc V10s but, at the same time, allowed smaller teams with limited budgets, and with insufficient time to secure a supplier for a new 2400 cc V8, to continue racing with the old V10s. Only the new Toro Rosso took advantage of this exception, while all the other teams switched directly to the new V8s. Both the shared chassis and the use of the V10 engine remained controversial topics throughout the season, since the engine agreement had been designed by the FIA to benefit small teams like the former Minardi, not the far wealthier Red Bull. However, these doubts faded as the season progressed, because the feared performance advantage of the car turned out to be unfounded. The STR1s were indeed fairly competitive in the first part of the season, but this competitiveness vanished as the new V8s developed and, at the same time, the Cosworth V10 received no technical updates, compounded by the fact that the chassis was already a year old and had been designed for a different engine.
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| TORO ROSSO STR1, Vitantonio Liuzzi Montecarlo, Monaco GP 2006 |
The group of engineers working on the STR1 came directly from Red Bull and included David Pitchforth as Technical Director, Ian Pocock as Engineering Director, Rob Taylor as Chief Designer, and Ben Agathangelou as Head of Aerodynamics. The only engineer who did not come from the Austrian parent company but from the former Minardi was Italian Alessandro Poggi, serving as Head of Electronics for the new car. The Faenza-built machine returned to Michelin tires after four seasons and, for the first time, used a seven-speed gearbox, mandatory under the regulations, a longitudinal sequential unit derived from Red Bull.
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| TORO ROSSO STR1, Vitantonio Liuzzi Imola, San Marino GP 2006 |
Compared to the parent team’s livery, the STR1 featured a darker shade of blue, with a nose cone tipped in gold. On the engine cover a distinctive painting of an enraged bull stood out, designed by Austrian sculptor Jos Pirkner and hand-finished by Knud Tiroch before each Grand Prix. The only sponsor logos on the STR1 were those of Red Bull and the technical suppliers Michelin and Cosworth. The drivers chosen to race the STR1 were rookie American Scott Speed and Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi. Speed, the first American driver to compete in a Grand Prix since Michael Andretti in 1993, had tied his future to Red Bull’s since 2002, culminating in a third place in the GP2 Championship in 2005. Vitantonio Liuzzi followed a different but equally remarkable path, becoming the last F3000 champion in 2004, which earned him a shared race seat with Christian Klien at Red Bull Racing in 2005. Unfortunately, the dual-driver arrangement did not work in the Italian’s favor, as Klien kept the Red Bull seat for the 2006 season while Liuzzi was “relegated” to Toro Rosso.
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| TORO ROSSO STR1, Vitantonio Liuzzi Melbourna, Australian GP 2006 |
The STR1’s performance was predictably very poor, and the team found itself sharing the back of the grid with the uncompetitive Midland and Super Aguri cars. Throughout the season, Liuzzi was generally the faster of the two drivers, although Speed improved with experience. Despite both being involved in various incidents and errors due to their inexperience, the STR duo earned praise from team co-owner Gerhard Berger for their performances. Liuzzi even managed to score the team’s first point in the United States Grand Prix held on the Indianapolis road course. At the end of the season, thanks to Liuzzi’s point, the team finished ninth in the Constructors’ Championship, aware that with Red Bull’s support the coming seasons would surely be much brighter.
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