1/43 Model Review: 2009 Toro Rosso STR4 Ferrari

Background

The Toro Rosso was essentially the Red Bull RB5 with a Ferrari engine, with Bourdais retained for a second season and joined by another Sebastien to replace the outgoing Vettel, Buemi. Whilst Red Bull began to dominate the final half of the year with their development at full speed, Toro Rosso were cash-strapped and unable to keep up with the rate of development. Both drivers scored points in the first half of the year, but Bourdais performances were not deemed good enough and was replaced half way through the year by Jaime Alguersuari. However the team finished last in the championship.

Minichamps

Minichamps 400090011

Only the one car to review for the 2009 Toro Rosso, and you can only get the Minichamps car with Buemi or Bourdais, not Alguersuari. I had great hopes for Bourdais from his time in CART, but sadly his Formula 1 career had few highlights.

Where are they now?

Toro Rosso

Toro Rosso continues to be the driver feeder team to the Red Bull lead team. There was a little bit of a bottle-neck when Vettel won four titles with Red Bull, but in recent years, they have struggled to bring as many drivers through, giving 2nd chances to Brendon Hartley and I've lost count of how many chances Kvyat has had. The rules put an end to the technical help Toro Rosso could receive from Red Bull, and running different engines from the sister team put them further apart. In 2019, running the same Honda engines, they teams are able to share more parts once again. 

Sebastien Buemi

Buemi lasted three seasons with the Toro Rosso team before becoming reserve Red Bull driver for a couple of seasons after that. I believe he is still officially the reserve Red Bull driver, but should a situation come up, it remains to be seen whether he does actually deputise. These days, you can find him driving in Formula E and WEC, having won the Formula E title in 2015-16, WEC champion in 2018-19 as well as LMP1 class champion in 2014. He also won at Le Mans in 2018. 

Sebastien Bourdais

As aluded to earlier, Bourdais had won four consecutive CART titles prior to joining Formula 1. Today, Bourdais is mostly found racing in Indycar and whilst occasionally competitive, he has not been in a position to challenge for titles there. 

Jaime Alguesuari

The one time youngest Formula 1 driver to compete at a Grand Prix, spent two and a half seasons with Toro Rosso before being dropped. After doing some Pirelli testing and other sporadic races, he competed in a season of Formula E before retired from motorsports altogether in 2015 to concentrate on being a DJ.