Toro Rosso

Welcome back to my spin off blog detailing the pasts of the current Formula 1 teams on the grid today!

We've already covered the teams who have never changed names and the minnows, so we're well under way now!

Today I'm going to cover the Red Bull feeder team Toro Rosso. Set up by Dietrich Mateschitz (owner of  the Red Bull energy drink company) in order to provide parent team Red Bull with new talent for the future. They only have a short history, including just the one name change after Mateschitz bought the last stocks to this previous guise.

MINARDI




First Entered: 1985
Pole Positions: 0
Race Wins: 0
Points: 38
Constructors Championships: 0
Drivers Championships: 0






Founded by Giancarlo Minardi and first raced in 1985, the team never really gathered any momentum in order to impress or impact. in 1996 Minardi entered into joint ownership with F1 bad boy Flavio Briatore. The team does however have quite a good roll call of drivers including; Jarno Trulli, Giancarlo Fisichella, Mark Webber and double world champion Fernando Alonso. Despite never being at the forefront of the grid, they gained a very loyal following and if they were able to produce a talent such as Fernando Alonso, it gives me great hope that the smaller teams today will provide an Alonsoesque driver. Another great quality about this team is that they loved giving the fans a new livery every once in a while! here are a few examples!:

After eventual owner Paul Stoddart sold Minardi to Red Bull, they wanted to keep the teams Italian heritage. So in a clever market ploy they named the team Toro Rosso which of course in translation means, Red Bull.

TORO ROSSO


First Entered: 2006
Pole Positions: 1
Race Wins: 1
Points: 136
Constructors Championships: 0
Drivers Championships: 0






I have wrote a peice oringinaly about how Toro Rosso treat their younger drivers and through that I included a small history about the team from some of the drivers who have raced for them, to how Sebastian Vettel got their first pole position, podium and race win at Monza 2008. The article can be read here and I thoroughly recommend you take a read at it to see my view on how young stars are often mistreated at the outfit.

For the unaware out there, you may have noticed a change in my Blogger profile. That's because I am now a writer for a great informative and opinionated Formula 1 website called Let's Talk F1. I would absolutely implore you to check this out if you have not yet done so, there's a great dedicated team in place always looking to report the latest stories and events in our wonderful world. Please go and explore the site, favourite it and also follow us on Twitter @LetsTalkF1.


I would also like to take this opportunity to remind you of my main blog where I post my opinions on the latest goings on in Formula 1 where I've covered issues such as the Toto Wolff saga and the unveiling of the Lotus E21. Contact details for both are below this text!

The Minnows

Welcome to my spin off blog detailing the pasts of the current Formula 1 teams on the grid!

Last week I detailed three of the most important teams in Formula 1, the three who have never changed their names. This is maybe why we've all come to love them so much. It's hard to imagine a world with Williams and McLaren in it. To think about one without Ferrari is just impossible. Here is the Introduction to this special blog.

This week again instead of taking on just the one team, I've included a double feature for you to enjoy. So here are your two Minnow teams and their previous outfits.

TEAM LOTUS

First Entered: 2010
Pole Positions: 0
Race Wins: 0
Points : 0
Constructors Championships: 0
Drivers Championships: 0






One of three new teams in 2010, Lotus were re-established from the infamous Lotus brand of the 70s and 80s. Though a shadow of their former selves, it was great to hear the name again. They hired the ever impressive Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli to drive a partnership that lasted through both the 2010 and 2011 season, although they gave a drive at the British Grand Prix to Karun Chandhok. Owned by Tony Fernandes and ran by Mike Gascoyne, the team did little to impressive as the stats show. .

CATERHAM

Since: 2012
Pole Positions: 0
Race Wins: 0
Points: 0
Constructors Championships: 0
Drivers Championships: 0







Due to a whatever debate (I honestly lost interest in the whole fight) they were forced to give up the name Lotus and became Caterham. Management remained the same, only change was Trulli out, Vitaly Petrov in. For 2013 they are one of three teams (Marussia and Force India) still not to complete a their line up, only naming Charles Pic thus far.

The next team name will take most of you by shock as the team never actually raced under this name. The team you came to know as Virgin were named Manor GP. However due to a number of shares swapping about, the team changed to Virgin Racing before a race had been started.

VIRGIN RACING

First Entered: 2010
Pole Positions: 0
Race Wins: 0
Points: 0
Constructors Championships: 0
Drivers Championships: 0







Funded by the "richy" Richard Branson, the team began as one of the other new teams in 2010. The line-up consisted of Timo Glock, and Lucas di Grassi. For 2011 they became Marussia Virgin Racing replacing di Grassi for Jerome d'Ambrosio. Like the other newbies they failed to make even a little impact on the grid.

MARUSSIA

Since: 2012
Pole Positions: 0
Race Wins: 0
Points: 0
Constructors Championships: 0
Drivers Championships: 0







With a name change and the introduction of GP2 graduate Charles Pic, Marussia nearly pipped Caterham to the prize giving 10th place in the constructors championship. It was not meant to be, although with the use of McLaren's wind tunnel and KERS for the first time they did look to be on track for 2013. Although with Pic joining Caterham and Glock's future looking to be over, it's hard to see where they can go now.

Introduction - The Obvious Exceptions

Welcome to my spin off blog detailing the pasts of the current Formula 1 teams on the grid!

If this is your first time to any of my blogs, I am the owner and author of the Formula 1 blog which started out as a hobby and turned out to be my passion as it became a big success. This idea came to me recently one night as I discovered that a lot of Formula 1 fans both old and new are completely unaware of their teams history beyond their current name! There's also a bit of a dry spell in Formula 1 at the minute with it being pre season, new stories are hard to come by, so take this as a gap filler until the new season gets under way!

Each week I'll be examining a different team and posting them here on this blog as to keep it separate from the news on my Formula 1 blog. I'll be noting famous drivers and team owners.  I'll be taking note of the amount of Pole Positions, Race Wins, Constructors Championships & Drivers Championships. Each outfit will be totalled up in the four categories to see who is technically the most successful team in the history of Formula 1. Just remember his is for fun and is not an interpretation into what team is the best, so sit back and enjoy!

There are currently 11 teams on the grid for 2013. Now I'm sure you've already figured out, not every team has had a former identity. This post will contain the four teams who have remained the same ever since their entry into Formula 1. Next weeks blog will kick off the first real posts, starting with Marussia. So without further hesitation, please enjoy the exceptions to this special blog:

WILLIAMS

First Entered: 1978

Pole Positions: 127

Race Wins: 114
Points: 2760

Constructors Championships: 9

Drivers Championships: 7

Williams have had some amazing drivers attached to their history; Keke Rosberg, Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill, Alain Prost, Jacques Villeneuve, Nelson Piquet and Jenson Button. Formula 1's greatest driver Ayrton Senna had a stint with the team, and unfortunately this was his last team as he died in a Williams car. This has also been the last fatality to date and long may this continue. As a tribute, every Williams car has the name Senna on its livery somewhere. Team principal is the legendary Sir Frank Williams, although in getting on with age, he is likely to be succeeded by business partner Toto Wolff.

McLAREN

First Entered: 1966

Pole Positions: 155

Race Wins: 182
Points: 4710.5

Constructors Championships: 8

Drivers Championships: 12

Past drivers include Jacky Ickx, Emerson Fittipaldi, James Hunt, Gilles Villeneuve, Niki Lauda, Keke Rosberg, Mika Hakkinen, David Coulthard, Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. The team was at its highest whenever they had the greatest and the second greatest driver as team mates. Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost provided the most intense rivalry that the sport has ever seen, and perhaps the world. Jenson Button currently drives for them. Martin Whitmarsh is the current team principle, McLarens most famous team principle has to be the legendary Ron Dennis.

FERRARI

First Entered: 1950 (every season since)

Pole Positions: 207

Race Wins: 227
Points: 6166. 27

Constructors Championships: 16

Drivers Championships: 15

The oldest and most prestigious outfit in the history of Formula 1. Current driver Fernando Alonso has constantly stated that to drive for Ferrari is the ultimate goal. It's hard to argue when drivers such as; Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Niki Lauda & Kimi Raikkonen have all won championships with the team. The most famous driver to drive for the team? He is no doubt the God of Formula 1, 7 times World Champion Michael Schumacher won 5 of his championships consecutively racing for this team. Stefano Domenicali currently heads the greatest Formula 1 team, a post once held by Jean Todt. Ross Brawn also designed cars for them during the Schumi era.

I hope you enjoyed my first entry in the history of Formula 1 teams. Next weeks blog I will focus on the minnow team, Marussia. Thanks for reading.

To keep up to date with my views on the current news in Formula 1, click here.