2014 Season Review: Toro Rosso

The 2014 season saw the Toro Rosso move up from eight place to seventh place in the Constructors Championship. After Daniel Ricciardo got promoted to Red Bull Racing this season after impressing with his performances last season, Toro Rosso entered the 2014 season with a driver line up of mixed experience.

Current driver Jean-Eric Vergne was kept on for a third year and was joined by 2013 GP3 champion, Daniil Kvyat. At 19 years of age, some begrudged the young Russian rookie his chance ahead of the more experienced Antonio Felix da Costa, however, at Helmut Marko's request, Kvyat lined up in Melbourne as the sixth youngest debutant in F1 history.

Aside from a seemingly exciting driver line-up, Toro Rosso also fancied its chances in the Constructor's Championship. After doing no better than eighth in the previous five seasons in the sport, the Faenza squad saw the new turbo V6 era as its big chance to climb the ladder and pick off some bigger midfield opponents.

Their season began well enough in Melbourne, with Vergne and Kvyat qualifying in sixth and eighth places and finished the races in eighth and ninth that many fans did not see them realistically achieving straight away in the season. From Australia onwards, the two drivers' seasons have diverged, with Toro Rosso only managing one further double top ten finish at Silverstone, with Kvyat leading Vergne home to finish in ninth and tenth places.

In the first part of the season, both of the team's drivers were struck down with repetitive car failures and reliability issues with nine retirements in total; five of which have befallen Vergne. But in the second half of the season, Vergne has outscored Kvyat with a ninth place finish in Japan and a brilliant drive to sixth place in Singapore, taking advantage of a few drivers who were struggling with tyre performance in the latter stages whereas Kvyat has struggled to extract pace and performance from the car.

Despite impressive performances from Vergne and Kvyat during the course of the season, Toro Rosso has lost both of their drivers from their line up next season and have signed Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Jr.

With the news that Sebastian Vettel was leaving Red Bull to join Ferrari next season, Kvyat has been promoted to Red Bull Racing while Vergne has left the team and is looking to stay in Formula One if he can, with the option of looking for a competitive drive in another motorsport series such as IndyCars.

As with the other three Renault teams on the grid this season, Toro Rosso have struggled massively with engine reliability, and when this hasn't been a problem, they've found themselves down on power.

Renault has not been solely to blame though, with a variety of retirements stemming from brakes, driveshafts and exhausts as well, only one of the nine retirements have been driver-initiated.

When the car has been reliable, Toro Rosso has had the seventh quickest car on the grid. On a good day, they're in the mix with the McLarens and Force Indias, but on a bad day, they're at risk of being swallowed up by Saubers and Lotus on the track. The question that continues to float inside my mind is without their reliability issues; just how much more could Toro Rosso have achieved this season?

Jean-Eric Vergne 22 points/ 13th in the Driver's Championship

This season has seen in my opinion Vergne doing an outstanding job for the Toro Rosso team, in a car that doesn't flatter him or his talent,that doesn't finish as often as it should and quite often looks like an absolute handful to drive. Vergne has outscored his team mate Kvyat by 14 points, has been outqualified by Kvyat twelve times to seven but has finished more races and laps ahead of the young rookie driver this season.

But three seasons into his Formula One career with Toro Rosso his experience did start to show this year. Within the paddock, consistency is valued incredibly highly by teams looking for a race driver for a season and Vergne is almost the complete package in this regard.

He wouldn't have been far from promotion to Red Bull last year and his performances this year reflect the fact that he does actually have similar top line potential to Ricciardo. This is all particularly important for midfield teams like Toro Rosso who are fighting for every scrap of a point (and dollar of prize money). Qualifying high and finishing in one piece really matter (a lesson for Esteban Gutierrez perhaps), and Vergne's ability to (on all but the rarest of occasions) deliver means for me that he should have been retained by the Toro Rosso team for at least more one season.

In the first half of the season, Vergne finished in the points with two eighth place finishes in Australia and Canada, a tenth place finish in Silverstone and ninth place finish in Hungary.

Vergne however suffered through no fault of his own reliability failures and failed to finish in Malaysia, Bahrain, Spain, Monaco and Austria and also finished out of the points at Germany.

In the second half of the season, Vergne bounced back and outperformed his team mate in the races where it matters most. He managed to achieve two more points finishes for the team with a sixth place finish in Singapore after a brilliant performance and a ninth place finish in Japan where his team mate Kvyat struggled showing that experience and consistency is the key to bringing the car home to the finish line.

Vergne has achieved the team's best finish of sixth place in Singapore compared to Kvyat's best finishes of three ninth places in Australia, Germany and Italy. Even though it is clear that Vergne has done more than enough to be retained by Toro Rosso for one more season, the fact that he hasn't been retained speaks volumes.

Despite suffering issues that haven't allowed him to take the opportunities to get more points under his belt, that hasn't been his fault. He has shown however that when everything comes together, he can deliver and can deliver well and he has achieved that by bringing most of the points that Toro Rosso has acquired this season.

This season to me, Vergne has delivered the best results that he could when the car could finish. Most importantly, his racecraft has been near-faultless, not tripping over anyone or throwing points away unnecessarily and that is the main reason why Toro Rosso should have retained Vergne to partner Max Verstappen next season and a driver who brings much needed experience to guide Toro Rosso next season and would give him a final chance to deliver in the sport, even though I feel he has been given enough chances to do so, it still is a shame that a talented driver like Vergne will not be on the grid potentially in any capacity in Formula One next year.

Daniil Kvyat 8 points / 15th in Driver's Championship

Many pundits and fans were sceptical when it was announced that Daniil Kvyat would be parterning Jean-Eric Vergne this season at Toro Rosso. For a 19 year old with one season of racing above Formula Renault, Kvyat's debut season has been astonishing and has earned him the 'Rookie of the Year' accolade for his efforts this season.

To come up against a team-mate who had more junior formulae experience and a two year head start in F1 and be close, if not right with him, is a remarkable achievement. Vergne has outscored Kvyat by 14 points, but Kvyat has outqualified him by twelve times to seven times but Vergne has when it matters in the races finished more races and laps ahead of the young rookie driver this season.

In the first half of the season, Kvyat scored points in the season opener in Melbourne with a ninth place finish, just one place behind his team mate. Kvyat then continued to score points in the first few races of the season with two tenth place finishes in Malaysia and Spain when his team mate Vergne suffered reliability or mechanical failures.

Before the summer break, Kvyat suffered retirements in Canada, Austria, Silverstone and Hungary but was able to score two points with a ninth place finish in Germany. After the summer break, Kvyat did manage to score his final points of the season with yet another ninth place finish in Italy but he appeared to struggle to extract pace and performance from the car whereas Vergne produced some stunning performances.

Three eleventh place finishes in Singapore, his home race in Russia which was very unlucky for him after producing a stunning performance in qualifying and in the final race in Abu Dhabi showed that Kvyat did everything he could to try and get into a points scoring position, even if it didn't work out for him.

Vergne did achieve the team's best finish of a sixth place in Singapore compared to Kvyat's best finishes of three ninth places in Australia, Germany and Italy as many expected Vergne to do. But what Kvyat has achieved in his first season in the sport is extremely impressive and you can understand why he has been promoted to Red Bull Racing for 2015.

Personally, Kvyat's qualifying performances throughout the season has been fantastic. To qualify so consistently within a couple tenths of Vergne and to score points so quickly (4 point-scoring finishes, including 3 in his first 4 races) is a sign of a prodigious talent, who has great potential and that highly sought after final 10%: consistency.

As we would expect from a rookie driver, rookie errors do creep in and there has been the odd spin here and there and he hasn't always looked entirely polished in battle while racing on the track. You can't help but think however that Kvyat is only going to keep getting better and better. I would say his best traits are his confidence and determination of being able to go out and deliver on the track, or if he does not deliver he is able to find the solution and improve so quickly and that is what will make him develop and improve as a driver for as long as he is in the sport.

For a 19 year old rookie that many doubted didn't have what it takes to be in Formula One, Kvyat has answered his critics in the best way possible and that is on the track with some stunning performances this season, and that is an enormous achievement and you can't help but think he'll only improve next season; especially with the talented Daniel Ricciardo being his team mate at Red Bull who has undergone the process of being promoted within the Red Bull programme himself and has achieved amazing success which Kvyat will be striving to achieve himself in the near future.

In conclusion, 2014 has been a mixed season for the Toro Rosso. They have managed to move up another step in the Constructors Championship which has showed that the team are taking small steps in the right direction to get further into the midfield battle.

30 points is an adequate haul for the team and it wouldn't have been turned down by Franz Tost had it been offered to him at the start of the year. The question does linger in terms of how many more points could have been gained had their cars been there at the end more often. For example, a double top 10 in Monaco qualifying, which became a double retirement on race day is a perfect synopsis of Toro Rosso's season; showing signs and glimpses of promise, but just short on achieving it.

On the driver front, Vergne had a lot to prove this season, especially given the fact that he was not promoted to Red Bull last season when the chance was there and also with many pundits and fans believing that this was Vergne's last chance to show what he could do in the car and had to beat his team mate Kvyat.

Vergne has suffered some incredible bad luck this year especially in the first half of the season through no fault of his own and this denied him the chance to score points for himself and the team, but allowed Kvyat the chance to show that he can deliver just as well as Vergne if the opportunity arises.

In the second half of the season however, Vergne bounced back and showed that experience and consistency is the key to beating your team mate where it matters which is in the races, even if Kvyat had the upper hand in qualifying. Vergne produced some stunning drives (Singapore springing to my mind) that showed that he deserved a fourth season with the Toro Rosso team which no driver has ever been given.

Sadly for Vergne, he didn't get the chance after being asked to move over for Max Verstappen and then in the latter stages of the season for Carlos Sainz Jr despite showing that he had ongoing value to the team (as the consistent and bankable point-scorer) and is now fighting to stay in the sport in any way he can or if the speculation is correct racing in IndyCars next season in America.

Meanwhile, Kvyat theoretically would have got a second year with the Toro Rosso team, but due to the fact that Sebastian Vettel left Red Bull to join Ferrari next season, he has now been promoted as a result of this and also on the back of some truly great performances in the first half of the season which showed that he could beat Vergne when he had the chance to and has the potential to improve further.

But what to expect from Toro Rosso for 2015? As we know Toro Rosso will be going for a young and inexperienced line up of Verstappen and Sainz Jr who have impressed in F3 and Formula Renault 3.5 this season that has saw them gain a race seat in Formula One for 2015.

Even though both drivers have the right attitude and also the potential to succeed in the sport, they will just like Vergne and Kvyat this season have to take the chance to deliver on the track when the opportunities arise and also need to be given adequate time to get to grips with the challenges that Formula One presents.

I will urge caution however to Verstappen and Sainz Jr, Marko isn't averse to firing young drivers where their potential is perceived to be going unfulfilled (ask Jaime Alguersuari) and do have young and talented drivers waiting in the background such as GP3 Champion Alex Lynn and Pierre Gasly if either driver does not meet the standard expected of them.

For 2015, I see Verstappen and Sainz Jr throughout the season making rookie mistakes as we would expect from them but if the car is competitive and everything comes together, they could spring a surprise or two. Toro Rosso has to ensure that they learn from their mistakes this season and provide their young drivers with a consistent and most importantly a competitive car to achieve their planned objectives for 2015 as much as they possibly can.

Sarah Jones