Toro Rosso Will Show 2010 Car at Valencia

We reported yesterday that the majority of the established Formula One teams have already announced their launch dates prior to the February 1 deadline – when the winter testing season kicks off – with the exception of Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso. As ironic as it may seem, it has now been confirmed that the latter will actually make the Valencia testing next month, unlike their sister team Red Bull.

“Toro Rosso will start the winter testing in Valencia on 1 February and we are planning to do it with the STR5,” said a spokeswoman from Toro Rosso, as reported by the GMM news agency.

Until this year, Toro Rosso was using Red Bull Racing material (from the Red Bull Technology Center) to set up their F1 challenger. Consequently, their launch dates were always set after their sister from Milton Keynes. In 2010 however, due to the FIA's new regulations regarding customer cars, the Faenza based outfit had to build their STR5 from scratch, using no other resource but their own.

And it seems to have worked out perfectly for the Toro Rosso organization, at least if we are to consider the period of time it took them to develop their 2010 challenger. While Red Bull confirmed they will skip the first test of the off-season at Valencia (because they need more time to develop the RB6), Toro Rosso will make the field, alongside Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes GP, BMW Sauber F1, Renault and Williams F1.

However, it is not certain whether the Faenza based team will launch their car during an organized media event, or simply show it to the media during the actual testing session at the Ricardo Tormo circuit (like Williams F1). In addition, the team is yet to announce Sebastien Buemi's teammate for the 2010 season, with Jaime Alguersuari yet to be confirmed for that seat.