2014 Review – Toro Rosso: Progress Despite Challenges to Overcome

The Toro Rosso team exists to allow drivers from Red Bull’s young driver program to gain experience before joining the main team: Red Bull. This was once again the case this season with Daniil Kvyat, who debuted in F1 alongside the experienced Jean-Eric Vergne, who was competing in his 3rd season with the Italian team.

THE PILOTS

Jean-Eric Vergne – 13th in the overall standings (22 pts)

The Frenchman had to confirm the hopes placed in him by Red Bull by leading the team upwards with the arrival of the new power unit, V6 Turbo, and the switch from Ferrari to Renault. Vergne started the season well, often qualifying in the top 10, notably in Australia, where he was 6th on the grid before finishing 8th in the race, thus scoring four points in the first round of the season.

The rest was not easy for the French driver, who often faced technical problems during races, forcing him to retire 5 times in the first 8 races – his only 5 retirements of the year. His second half of the season was better than the first, with more points scored and notably a 6th place finish in Singapore as a highlight, achieved with an impressive comeback at the end of the race, which he repeated in Austin.

Not retained by Toro Rosso, the future of the Parisian seems to lie across the Atlantic in IndyCar, at least that’s the wish he recently expressed, although a stint in Formula E also seems possible for Vergne – he will be present in Uruguay for the 3rd round of this new championship.

Daniil Kvyat – 15th in the overall standings (8 pts)

The Russian driver had an ideal debut in Formula 1, securing a top 10 in qualifying (8th) and in the race (9th) in his first race in Melbourne. He often managed to start from the top 10 on the grid but didn’t always manage to convert in the race, finishing notably four times just outside the points in 11th place.

He also encountered some technical problems this season—5 retirements like Vergne, including during the last final round in Abu Dhabi, which sometimes kept him from finishing in the top 10 that seemed within his reach (such as in Austria, notably). But for his first F1 season, he managed to score 8 points and impressed Toro Rosso and the Red Bull decision-makers who chose him to replace Sebastian Vettel, who was leaving the Austrian team.

L’EQUIPE

Toro Rosso-Renault – 7th in the Constructors’ Championship (30 pts)

The Toro Rosso team finished in 9th place in 2012, before improving in 2013 (8th) and the goal was to do even better this year, with an experienced driver (Vergne) and a rookie (Kvyat) and the goal is achieved as the Faenza team finishes in 7th place in the constructors’ standings, albeit with a caveat, fewer points than in 2013, 30 compared to 33 last year.

The development objective of the drivers is also successful for the Italian team, with Daniil Kvyat following the examples of Vettel and Ricciardo to move to Red Bull, albeit more swiftly. The transition from the Ferrari V8 to the Renault V6 Turbo was not easy for the Faenza team, with problems encountered by the French engine supplier at the beginning of the season, but it will allow Toro Rosso to have more synergies with Red Bull and thus prepare for the future.

PERSPECTIVES

The Toro Rosso team has decided to draw from its young driver program for 2015, with Kvyat moving to Red Bull and Vergne not being retained. Red Bull has placed Max Verstappen, 17, and Carlos Sainz Jr, 20 and Formula Renault 3.5 champion this season, in its “B” team to prepare them.

The two men will have their work cut out for them at the start of next season and will need to acclimate to a new environment, discover a new single-seater, gain experience, and seize every opportunity to make a splash both in qualifying and during races, thereby convincing their bosses to keep them beyond 2015.

Despite a refreshed duo of drivers, the Faenza team will undoubtedly have the goal for 2015 to perform at least as well as this year, and Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen will be key figures in helping their team achieve this aim.

**Find all our reviews, team by team, of the season /f1/actualite/19173-bilan-2014-caterham-f1-plus-detincelles-en-coulisses-quen-piste.html:**

– Caterham: Plus d’étincelles en coulisses qu’en piste

– Sauber: Une saison vierge de résultats

– Marussia: De la joie aux larmes…

– Lotus: Une saison dans les bas-fonds

– Force India: Une saison en net progrès

– McLaren: Année de transition après 20 ans avec Mercedes

– Ferrari: La fin d’une ère

– Williams: La saison du renouveau sportif