Toro Rosso’s STR6 seems to have quite a bit of pace early in the season, could they sneak up and grab some podiums this season?
If I am not mistaken, the STR6 is essentially a Red Bull Chassis with a Ferrari Engine and KERS system?
It's not, it's an STR-developed evolution of the STR-developed STR5, itself STR's in-house evolution of the STR4, which was a Red Bull Engineering creation. Essentially, the Toro Rosso designs were forked from the 2009 Red Bull, with 2009 the last time Red Bull and Toro Rosso raced near-identical cars.
Interestingly, the year before, the Scuderia Toro Rosso variant of the Red Bull design was unreservedly superior to the original. Through some sort of fluke of engineering, the chassis was better suited to a Ferrari Engine than to the Renault lump in the Red Bull. That's why Vettel was so famously able to triumph in Italy that year, and STR to perform an upset by defeating the Works (or Premier) Red Bull outfit in the WCC.
Anyway, the point is that the STR6 and the RB7 are different designs, so it's possible, albeit unlikely, that the STR6 is not only in the same league, but potentially even better. On the other hand, Alguersuari and Buemi are nothing special*, so it would have to be miles better than the works machine to allow the team to trouble Vettel and Webber.
*Seriously, there is no justice in the world. Those nobodies still have drives whilst Chandhok, Davidson, Sato, Paffett, (nearly) Heidfeld and other far more talented drivers are stuck testing, racing in other categories or sitting next to David Croft.
The Frome Flyer: Smoother, Smarter, Calmer,
Winner.
Jenson Button: Professor, Chauffeur, World Champion Racing Driver.
