SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO 2015 …this is how we do it! The Team Scuderia Toro Rosso has been competing in the Formula 1 World Championship since 2006. The team was created with a view to finding two extra cockpits for the stars of the future coming through the ranks of the Red Bull Junior Driver Programme. As we reach the significant milestone of our tenth year in the Championship, the team’s driver line-up is the perfect synthesis of that goal, as we go into battle with two rookies, Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen, who have a combined age of just 37! When the team was first established it operated partly as a satellite to Red Bull Racing, running a car designed mainly by Red Bull Technology. However, for the past five years, Scuderia Toro Rosso has run completely independently, doing all the car design and manufacturing work in-house in Faenza. This necessitated a major expansion programme for the factory, which is still on-going and the Italian side of the operation is supported by the team’s wind tunnel facility in Bicester, England. On the engine front, we will tackle our second year powered by Renault. Team Principal Franz Tost has been at the helm since 2005, while the technical side is managed by Technical Director James Key. Currently the team has one win and one pole position to its name, both courtesy of Sebastian Vettel, who produced the fairytale result at the team’s home race, the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, back in 2008. Scuderia Toro Rosso can also be proud of having Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat in its ranks, seeing them progress as drivers and be selected to race for Red Bull Racing. Here, Tost, Key and other members of the technical team take us through what’s new for 2015, in terms of the car’s design and development, what’s happening in Bicester, the organisation and the team at the track. Franz Tost Team Principal “The 2015 season does not only mark a very special occasion, as Scuderia Toro Rosso reaches its tenth year in Formula 1, but it also represents a fantastic opportunity to showcase the team’s progress. Over the last few seasons we’ve focused on reinforcing the structure of the team, investing in new personnel in many areas in order to make sure we face the upcoming season stronger than ever before. All this has only been possible thanks to our sponsors: Red Bull being the main one, supporting us from the very beginning, Cepsa, Nova Chemicals and Sapinda. Now I’m pleased to welcome another sponsor, the well-known brewery Estrella Galicia, who’s just joined our team. I’m happy to have all them on board for this exciting season together. It’s a pleasure to see how, year after year, our partners continue to trust and remain loyal to us; this stability definitely helps our continuity and progress from all points of view – technical, organisational and human. “After finishing seventh in the Constructors’ Championship last year, our main target is to finish in fifth position and I’m confident that we can achieve this in 2015. “Our driver line-up is the youngest in Formula 1 history, but this is no reason to set us back or think we can’t achieve our goals; all the contrary: young drivers are always hungry for success and we will make sure we use this positively to our advantage. It’s true that Max is only 17, but that’s just a number on his ID, and when you look into his racing career you quickly see that racing is not new to him. He has 10 years’ experience if we include his karting years and he’s always shown fantastic speed and quick adaptability, so this time will be no different. He’s a fast learner and I’m convinced that, as long as we give him a competitive car, he will be up there fighting for good results very quickly. He already showed that he was ready for this next step during his FP1 outings last year. “Carlos has bigger experience in single-seaters and, just as his new teammate, also learns fast. After becoming the youngest driver to win the Renault World Series 3.5 Championship last year, I’m confident that, even though he’s only 20-years-old, his racing experience will allow him to get to grips with F1 straight away. I guess it will be very special for Carlos to kick- off his F1 season on home soil and in front of his home crowd in Jerez and we are sure he will do a great job. “Another improvement that will allow the team to steadily continue moving forward is the fact that our new STR4 building here in Faenza is nearly complete and will be fully operational this summer. It will be attached to the STR3 building and it will mean that we are all finally working under one same roof, drastically improving the team’s internal communications. If we also add the fact that we’ve already improved the wind tunnel in Bicester, UK, as well as making sure that all communications with our colleagues over there run as smoothly as if they were here in Italy, we can be sure that we will be making big progress and a huge step forward in terms of technical development. “The technical team led by James Key has done an extraordinary job to start this year strongly, passing all crash tests for the new STR10 first time and not losing any valuable time in the process. I’m very proud of this and it gives us confidence to keep on believing in ourselves, to be certain that we are definitely on the right track and to continue working hard to keep move forward. I know the team is constantly under a lot of pressure but they are aware of how to deliver and it’s great to see that we are all moving together, as a team, in the same direction. We’ve also learned a lot from the previous seasons and this will make us much stronger in 2015. We need to assure we make the most out of every opportunity that arises out on track and I’m confident that this year we certainly have the mentality to do just that, keep on improving and meet our targets.” “2015 will be our second season in a row joining forces with Renault, who have worked very hard over the winter and will help power us to our objectives. We’re happy to continue our relationship together and, after seeing how much effort they’ve invested, I’m confident we will be able to close the gap to our main competitors in 2015. The fact that this will be our second year using Renault’s 1.6 litre turbocharged V6 engine and two energy recovery systems will make it easier for all of us to keep on improving, understanding and developing the STR10 throughout the season. I also look forward to adding plenty of miles to our tally straight away in testing, making the most out of our time on track before the start of the season and making sure we are 100% ready to race when we get to Australia, having covered our test programmes successfully together with Renault. “I’m delighted to see there are 20 races back on the calendar, with the Mexican Grand Prix returning after 23 years. It will be a very demanding season for us all, I have no doubt about that, but we are ready for the challenge here at Scuderia Toro Rosso. I look forward to seeing F1 put on another good show; we will definitely make sure we contribute to it with two young drivers that are eager to do just that!” Max Verstappen Born 30 September, 1997 (17 years old) Dutch - born in Hasselt, Belgium Race number: 33 Max Verstappen was born into a family of racing drivers (his father Jos is a former Formula 1 driver; his mother Sophie, a successful kart racer) and he began karting at the age of four. He started competing in the Mini Junior championship before graduating to the Rotax Minimax class, winning the Belgian championship in 2006. A year later he went on to win the Dutch Minimax championship. His successful karting career continued with him clinching the 2009 Flemish Minimax and Belgian KF5 championships. He stepped up to international karting a year later, winning the WSK Euro Series and WSK World Series as well as finishing runner-up in the KF3 World Cup. His visits to the top step of the podium continued and in 2011 the Dutchman won the WSK Euro Series. A year later he won the WSK Master Series and in 2013 he went on to win both the European KF and KZ as well as the World KZ championships. 2014 was Max’s maiden season in single-seater racing, competing in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship. He finished third with 10 race wins to his name. He joined the Red Bull Junior Team in August 2014. In 2015 Max makes his Formula 1 debut, racing alongside Carlos Sainz at Scuderia Toro Rosso. He has selected 33 as his race number and, at seventeen years and one hundred and sixty- seven days old, he will become the youngest driver to start a World Championship race when he lines up in Melbourne. He already became the youngest driver to participate at a Grand Prix weekend during the first free practice at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix.