Toro Rosso Headed for Downturn with Driver Line-up

With momentum gaining for Scuderia Toro Rosso to hire two newcomers to the organization, Sebastien Buemi and Takuma Sato, the staff of Grand Prix DB would like to make a case for the team to instead retain Sebastien Bourdais.

Buemi will likely get the “first” seat at STR. And the reason why Bourdais should be in the “second” seat at STR for 2009 is that successful teams recognize the importance of stability. Yes, maybe Sato could out-point Bourdais over the course of a full season. Maybe. But he will first have to learn the nuances of the chassis, integrate with the team, and develop a rapport with his engineer. Typically this takes time.

With Buemi and Sato how is the team better off with a rookie and a team newcomer? In his F1 past, Sato has not shown himself to be a character who can instantly integrate into the team and move it forward, like Michael Schumacher or Fernando Alonso. Sure Sato has skills, but so does Bourdais. Perhaps they can be seen as equal on talent. But with Bourdais, the team already has baseline data and a working relationship, and they should be able to move forward from the get-go.

There are exceptions to the wholesale driver change rule. McLaren did pretty well in ‘07 with two new drivers. However, one was a two-time World Champion and the other was a long-term driver in the team’s development program (Alonso and Lewis Hamilton). Williams had success in ‘03. However one driver was a three-time World Champion and the other was an established test driver in the organization (Alain Prost and Damon Hill). None of these qualifications apply to Sato.

It seems STR management is taking their success in ‘08 for granted. They don’t appear to realize that most if not all of their success was due to the brilliant driving of Sebastian Vettel—not because of genius acts on management’s part. Vettel is a rare talent who is nearly impossible to replace. Bourdais did a solid job as a rookie and has obvious potential after spending a year with the team. STR is short of resources but continuing on its current path will help them more than a ride buyer would. Instead, team management is acting with impunity when it comes to driver selection.

When team managers think too highly of themselves, they usually end up ignoring the contributions of the incumbent driver and decide to make wholesale driver changes. More often than not, the result is that the team finds itself in a clear downward trend by midseason because they have had to spend precious resources on getting to know its drivers rather than developing the car.

The Minardi roots run deep at STR, and the back of the grid will be a familiar place for the team. With an all-new driver line up in ‘09, we can say goodbye to STR as a front runner. As a contender, we hardly knew you, Toro Rosso.