Mateschitz unhappy with Toro Rosso’s performances

Dietrich Mateschitz, the head of the Red Bull company, which owns the team of the same name and its sister team Toro Rosso, hopes that the latter will improve its performance next year.

Indeed, this season, the team based in Faenza scored only 26 points to rank ninth in the Constructors’ Championship. In 2011, the former Minardi team, bought at the end of 2005 by Mateschitz, was in eighth place in the standings thanks to its two drivers, Jaime Alguersuari and Sébastien Buemi, who were nevertheless let go at the end of the season.

The Austrian owner therefore urges his team to improve, especially since, in the meantime, the Red Bull team is scoring victory after victory: « Toro Rosso is our ‘rookie team’, its objectives are different from those of Red Bull. But that does not mean we are currently happy with the car’s development. Significant improvements need to be found, and we are in the process of doing so. »

Mid-season, the technical director, Giorgio Ascanelli, was replaced by the Briton James Key, coming from Sauber. For Daniel Ricciardo, who will start his second full season with Toro Rosso next year, it’s a positive point in the quest to improve the team. The ambition is, of course, to return to the level of 2011: « That’s the team’s goal. James has arrived, and it’s certainly his ambition and one of the main reasons for his joining us. There’s a great potential for improvement. With all due respect for what we achieved in 2012, we now have even more room to progress and move forward. I really see us making progress. »