Bourdais to Toro Rosso - Harmful?
At the end of last week Champcar World Series triple champion Sebastien Bourdais announced his venture into Formula 1 with Red Bull sponsored Scuderia Toro Rosso. Bourdais is the second driver to be named for 2008 next to 20 year old Sebastian Vettel.
This announcement means two Toro Rosso vets are out next season - Vitantonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed. Both drivers have responded to the situation with a surprising sense of relief and seem almost more relaxed knowing their respective fates. The vibe of both drivers seems to reflect that the team is functioning in chaos with weak leadership from team bosses Franz Tost and Gerhard Berger.
The question is now how will the relationship with newcomers Vettel and Bourdais and the team carry on?
Bourdais has little to prove to himself by heading to F1 but does have a family to care for and thus is not solely self motivated. Vettel may have more on the line in the switch from test driver at BMW to full time racer with Toro Rosso. If he doesn't prove himself with this back of the pack team his options could become more limited in the future.
Will the apparent disorder at Toro Rosso be enough to unnerve either driver and perhaps diminish the wonderful opportunities to race in the most elite form of motosport? Other drivers have joined smaller teams and made the world for themselves - Michael Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen, and Fernando Alonso are all names that immediately come to mind with teams like Jordan, Sauber, Minardi and more.
The weight falls on Toro Rosso to get their act together and learn to manage a team that now sits on a wealth (literally) of talent that can produce results and help brand Toro Rosso as a mid pack contender - or at the least a viable stepping stone to larger teams.
