Toro Rosso Owns Alguersuari for the Next 5 Years

Jaime Alguersuari not only secured his future in Formula One for at least one more season, but the Spanish teenager is now owned by Scuderia Toro Rosso for the next 5 years. According to his management, the Italian team will benefit from his services for the upcoming 5 years, no matter if as a race driver in Formula One or test/reserve racer.

Toro Rosso is currently backed by Austrian energy drink company Red Bull, and Alguersuari was part of Red Bull young drivers development programme before being offered the chance to debut in F1 last season. He then climbed at the wheel of the STR4 without any prior experience in driving an F1 single-seater and concluded half of season without a single point.

Although the initial contract between Toro Rosso and Alguersuari was signed for 2010 also, some sponsorship issues have prevented the Faenza officials from confirming the racer for the next season. As reported by us during the course of last weekend, those problems have been resolved and Jaime is now STR's official driver for the 2010 campaign.

“They (Red Bull) ask me to dispute the world championship in 2010 and it is the best news I have received in my life,” said the 19-year old driver, who promised his team that the 2010 season will see the true Alguersuari.

“Now I have a few more kilometres in F1, and the race in Bahrain will be very different from Hungary. The best Jaime will come this year,” added the Spanish racer.

Alguersuari will therefore join Sebastien Buemi in the Valencia test which kicks off on February 1st. Unlike their Red Bull “brothers”, the Italian team was able to fully develop their STR5 in time for the testing session in Valencia (or so it was reported by a team's spokesperson).