Toro Rosso STR4

The Toro Rosso STR4 was a Formula One car which Scuderia Toro Rosso used in the 2009 Formula One season. The car was revealed to be a Red Bull RB5 with a 2008-spec Ferrari 056 engine in Barcelona on March 9, 2009. It was revealed before the testing session.^[1]

Toro Rosso STR4

Sébastien Bourdais driving the STR4 at the Spanish Grand Prix
Category	Formula One
Constructor	Toro Rosso
Designer(s)	Adrian Newey (Chief Technical Officer) Geoff Willis (Technical Director) Rob Marshall (Chief Designer) Peter Prodromou (Head of Aerodynamics)
Predecessor	Toro Rosso STR3
Successor	Toro Rosso STR5
Technical specifications
Chassis	carbon-fibre and honeycomb composite structure
Suspension (front)	cast titanium uprights, pushrods, carbon-fibre upper and lower wishbones
Suspension (rear)	cast titanium uprights, pullrods, carbon-fibre upper and lower wishbones
Engine	Ferrari 056 (2008-spec) 2398cc V8 18,000 RPM Limited
Transmission	7-speed sequential
Fuel	Shell
Tyres	Bridgestone
Competition history
Notable entrants	Scuderia Toro Rosso
Notable drivers	11. Sébastien Bourdais 11. Jaime Alguersuari 12. Sébastien Buemi
Debut	2009 Australian Grand Prix
Last event	2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Races Wins Podiums Poles F/Laps 17 0 0 0 0

The Toro Rosso STR4 was the last-ever Toro Rosso car to be built by its senior sister team Red Bull Racing, as from the 2010 season onwards Toro Rosso switched to in-house designed cars.

Competition history

The STR4 was driven by Sébastien Bourdais and Sébastien Buemi for the first half of the season. Jaime Alguersuari replaced Bourdais from the Hungarian Grand Prix onwards.

Sébastien Buemi

Buemi during the Singapore Grand Prix

Buemi scored 7th place on his debut race at the 2009 Australian Grand Prix. His teammate Sebastian Bourdais also scored points that race.^[2] He went on to finish 8th in China, before finishing 7th and 8th in the final two races in Brazil and Abu Dhabi.^[3][4][5]

Sébastien Bourdais

Bourdais scored an 8th place at the 2009 Australian Grand Prix. His teammate Sébastien Buemi also scored points that race. However Bourdais had poor results during the 2008 season, scoring only 4 points unlike his 2008 teammate Sebastian Vettel who scored 35 and a race win in Monza. At the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, he was replaced by Jaime Alguersuari following a similar season of poor results, having scored only 2 points after the German Grand Prix before he was fired.

Jaime Alguersuari

Alguersuari at the Italian Grand Prix

Alguersuari made his debut at the Hungarian Grand Prix as his predecessor Sébastien Bourdais was replaced following a string of poor results.^[6] However he only managed to finish 3 races out of the 8 he raced in, with a best result of 14th in the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Sponsorship and livery

The STR4's base colour was dark blue, thanks to its main sponsor, Red Bull. The energy drink manufacturer's logo and lettering added red accents to the car.

At the Chinese Grand Prix, as a tribute to the victims of the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake collapse, Toro Rosso included a decal with the words "Vicini All'Abruzzo." for the race weekend on their cars.

Complete Formula One results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Points	WCC
2009	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Ferrari 056 V8	B		AUS	MAL	CHN	BHR	ESP	MON	TUR	GBR	GER	HUN	EUR	BEL	ITA	SIN	JPN	BRA	ABU	8	10th
				Sébastien Bourdais	8	10	11	13	Ret	8	18	Ret	Ret
				Jaime Alguersuari										15	16	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	14	Ret
				Sébastien Buemi	7	16†	8	17	Ret	Ret	15	18	16	16	Ret	12	13 1	Ret	Ret	7	8

^† Driver failed to finish, but was classified as they had completed >90% of the race distance.

• ^1 – Sébastien Buemi followed the safety car to the pit lane on the final lap of the Italian Grand Prix, therefore he was not considered to have finished the race. He was classified as he had driven 90% of the winner's race distance.