Tost says Toro Rosso willing be Red Bull's guinea pigs
- Published on 03 Dec 2018 09:38
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- By: Richard Fletcher
Torro Rosso’s team boss Franz Tost has said that his team will help Red Bull Racing by being their guinea pigs if it helps them win the title. Scuderia Torro Rosso (STR) receives around 50% of their funding from Red Bull.
Toro Rosso has been using Honda power units during 2018 and has been assisting Honda in fine-tuning the power unit in preparation for Red Bull switching to the Japanese manufacturer for the 2019 season. Toro Rosso was penalised with several power unit penalties during the season as they helped Honda with development.
Toro Rosso functions as a junior team to Red Bull under the watch of Helmut Marko as a test bed to develop the skills of young drivers. Sebastian Vettel was promoted to the senior Red Bull team from the junior squad, as was Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen. Their latest promotion is Pierre Gasly who is switching for the 2019 season. As well as developing the drivers Tost has confirmed that the team are also used to develop the cars as well.
Tost said: “If we can help Red Bull win the title by being the guinea pig in terms of developments, then that’ll happen.” Tost stated that his team will benefit from a successful partnership as they will receive assistance developing their cars from Red Bull.
“We’re happier with this role because we’ll see the fruits of our labour as well. Not only in terms of the engine, but we’ll have advantages in other aspects as well because of the partnership between Honda and Red Bull. The full backside of the RB15 will come our way as well.”
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Replies (9)
Login to replyLightIsRight
Posts: 113
"The full backside of the RB15 will come our way as well"
Careful, Haas might start crying and claim you a new team and call for you to lose your prize money...
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Hardly surprising, but such is the way of the B teams. I only hope the components they share will be worth it.
kngrthr
Posts: 203
the full backside....in technical terms, the arse end
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
Pathetic. Embarrassing. Yes, this was pretty much how it worked already, but admitting to it up front shamelessly... That's repugnant. This is a team with brilliant engineer. The former Minardi team which had tons of dignity even if very few points. Now... It's a prostitute at the service their John, Red Bull. Furthermore, I thought there was a rule about a company having multiple teams precisely to prevemt this kind of abuse.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Here is an interesting little shrimp I will have to hand ya, AJPP (and this isnt me pulling your leg or trying to piss ya off): you seem kinda fine with the stuff Merc' have done as of late. Doing what they DID(!!) to Bottas, giving team orders to drivers outside of their team (Hello Ocon!), and that stuff. Now I dont find this cool beans either (I was kinda hoping Honda would or will just say "Fk it" and buy STR... A skinless man can dream...), but how is this different from what Merc' is doing?
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
@calle I found it unsavoury, but totally acceptable for Mercedes to impose team order on Bottas. The Ocon thing we discussed before... that was just bad form and was absolutely weak. But to answer your question regarding how this is different... for starters, Mercedes never had the balls to brazenly admit that they asked Force India to move. Second, that was a single disgusting incident that was admittedly an exception rather than the rule. Toro Rosso is saying upfront that they will be Red Bull's guinea pig (they actually use that expression!).
Surely you see how that's unprecedented in Formula 1. Yes, Toro Rosso has already been playing a similar role, and Sauber for Ferrari this year too. But self-respecting team manager would designate their team as a "guinea pig" for another team. Or admit that it will be a quid pro quo relationship, in that Red Bull will essentially give them designs for the rear of the car.
Calle, if I am exaggerating please let me know were, but this seems like a big deal to me. I'm not inmune to bias on this matter, because Toro Rosso had already gotten on my nerves.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Fair points, though it should be noted that they never needed to answer any questions or show their balls about the Ocon thing. The balls were already exposed, fully visible on that silver platter and Toto didnt even bother hiding them. There was no admission needed, we all saw what happened. To me, the two are very comparable. We see this kinda corruption from team orders just as much as the B-team disease. How Bottas' chances, if he ever had any, were completely ruined and tossed into the dumpster to rot by Merc' in favour of Hammy. How Sauber, Haas, STR and the like are destined for perpetual "okay but never great" status due to their sugardaddies milking them for all its worth, while the 2nd drivers get tossed into the sea at every possible chance. Its in their right, but it doesnt milden the sour sour taste it leaves in my mouth that its even considered sportslike. This is very much the same for me, and I'd like to see both concepts burned into cinders. I dont really think you are exaggerating, like I say I generally agree on the B team stance, I just think its interesting how different we look at certain aspects.
boudy
Posts: 1,168
The main issue is that Redbull puts up most of the budget for torro rosso. They run the team and support the team. Without the support of Redbull they might even not be on the grid. Honda needed last year to get ready for 2019 and had toro rosso help them. This was known by the team before they started the season. They will benefit from their work and get a much better 2019.
Mercedes
boudy
Posts: 1,168
Mercedes did an negative thing on the way they sacrificed Bottas for an race win. They are facing the situation that their new golden child can't get an race seat for 2019 and one of their current drivers has been sacrificed for a not required win.
At least with Toro Rosso they did it to improve speed.
When in F1 the teams are ruthless and everything seems to go this done by every team and not exclusive to either Mercedes or Redbull.