2012 Season Preview - Toro Rosso

 

Toro Rosso had a fantastic top speed in the second half of last season, this enabled them to rise up the order on race day on many occasions. It was a common site to see both Jamie Alguersuari and Sebastian Buemi at the back end of the grid, however they managed to get in the points a lot. This was due to a good top speed so the could overtake using the DRS system.

It was announced in December that both Jaimie Alguersuari and Sebastian Buemi were dropped from the team. This was a shock to many including the drivers. It's a shame really because I believe Jaimie Alguersuari has a lot of talent and maybe should have been given a bit more time. Sebastian Buemi however has arguably had enough time to prove himself and I can sort of agree with the dropping of him. Sorry Sebastian, nothing personal. Toro Rosso have instead employed two young drivers to replace them, these are French driver Jean-Eric Vergne and Australian Daniel Ricciardo. Daniel raced with HRT last season so has valuable experience of the Formula One tracks and how a F1 car works, despite driving a dog of a car last season. Jean-Eric Vergne won the British Formula Three championship in 2010 and has a couple of other titles to his name earlier prior to 2010. Jean-Eric Vergne hasn't really won anything of real note, which means that the Red Bull Acadamy must see something special in him.

It's hard to preview the team when you don't really know the drivers, however Daniel Ricciardo did beat his opponent in HRT on a number of occasions last season. Given that he was against an experienced driver he did really well and showed some promise. Toro Rosso have always been in the midfield if you take out of the equation Vettels win in Monza a few years ago. I expect a car that will improve during the season but perhaps not enough to get them out of the midfield. The car will be built to Toro Rosso specs for the first time without input from Red Bull. It'll be interesting to see how they get on, there is obviously a lot of talent there in the team.

2011 Position - 8th
2012 Predicted Position - 8th

Conclusion - I would say they will be pretty much the same as last season. They will be in the midfield for most of the season, with a few points gained by the talented Daniel Ricciardo (I have high hopes for this young driver by the way, a future F1 star). I am unsure of Jean-Eric Vergne and how he'll do, he doesn't have a track record to speak of so I think he'll probably be a second or so off Daniel's pace in the first few races. In my opinion there will be no change for Toro Rosso as I believe they are destined for the to finish in the same championship position as last season due only to a resurgence from the Williams team in my opinion.