Toro Rosso’s new STR5, launched in Valencia on Febuary1, marks the first car built 100 percent in-house by the Italian team following four years of collaboration with Red Bull Technology. Founded in 2006 after Red Bull’s purchase of Minardi, Toro Rosso’s cars have until now been based on those of Red Bull Racing. However, regulation changes demand they go it alone from 2010 in terms of design and construction.

“Creating the necessary infrastructure to tackle this task has been our biggest challenge, possibly more difficult than actually producing the car itself,” team principal Franz Tost told Toro Rosso’s official website. “We have taken on an additional 80 staff and expanded our facility to accommodate them, including a machine shop to increase our production capacity.

“In addition, we have commissioned a wind tunnel in Bicester, England, which we bought from Red Bull. It will take time for the highly skilled team we have assembled to learn to work together as efficiently as possible.”

In recent years, Toro Rosso have undertaken an ever-increasing level of production at their Faenza factory, but in March of 2009 they were given the go-ahead to actually become Formula One constructors. Since then they have been building up their resources in preparation for 2010.

“Being recognised as a constructor involves owning the intellectual property rights to what are defined as the listed parts,” explained technical chief Giorgio Ascanelli. “These are effectively the monocoque, the safety structures that are subject to homologation and crash testing, which means the rear and front structures, primary and secondary roll-over structures and the complete aerodynamic package, the suspension, fuel and cooling systems.”

Compared to its predecessor, the STR5’s design has been optimised to make the most of a double diffuser at the rear. The car is also longer due to its larger fuel tank, a consequence of the ban on refuelling for 2010. The additional weight of the fuel means suspension and braking have also undergone a major reappraisal.

By Toro Rosso’s own admission, the STR5’s design is deliberately quite conservative, as the team adapt to their recent rapid expansion and learn to trust the data from their new wind tunnel. Nevertheless, Tost is confident the Ferrari-powered machine should help them improve on their tenth place in the 2009 standings.

“Making predictions for the coming season is a dangerous trap, but if pushed, I would say we must aim to finish in the top eight in the constructors’ championship, while giving our young drivers everything they need to improve, as well as optimising our infrastructure in order to be as competitive as possible in 2010 and beyond,” he said.

Courtesy to www.formula1.com 

 STR5 Specification 

CHASSIS
Composite monocoque structure
DRIVER'S SEAT
Carbon-fibre construction, moulded to driver’s shape
EXTINGUISHER SYSTEM
Scuderia Toro Rosso/FEV
BODY
Carbon fibre composite
TRANSMISSION
Seven-speed hydraulic; Clutch: Sachs triple-plate pull-type
SUSPENSION