Yeah I don't get why Toro Rosso is a career killer? Only Sebastian made it true, but that's because he performed exceptionally well and stood out from everyone else. No one else has done that.
Sorry, but an opportunity to drive for a junior team and prove yourself to potentially get yourself in the best car on the grid...is never a bad deal. Your 'point' doesn't make sense.
I see what you are saying, and to some extent agree, however in F1 where we are talking about sometimes a difference of 1-2 seconds between say 1st and 18th on the grid, the driver is to some extent dependent on the expertise and motivation of the team around him. The mechanics and engineers can be the difference between a car being able to perform well or perform poorly (driving at 180mph, if there is even a slight flaw in the set up of the car it can have a massive effect on the efficiency it operates at). I still maintain that Bourdais got a very very very raw deal at the team (did I mention that I think it was a very raw deal?), and indeed I have detected that pretty much since Berger's last few months there the atmosphere has been very sour within the team for whatever reasons I am not sure. I think there was more to Berger getting out of that team than meets the eye - he is too nice and genuine a person I think to have put up with some of the behaviour at management level that was going there.
It's my belief that up until Berger left that team a couple of years ago, it was him that was making it work, and I had a real soft spot for the team until it became clear (which it was - very clear to anybody watching) that the management team were having a very negative and constricting effect on the entire team from top to bottom. I honestly think a lot of people can't have been paying much attention during that time if they couldn't see it, because it wasn't even slightly hard to spot.
Is it really any surprise how well Vettel did at Torro Rosso (?) as at that time there were clear, open and definite links between them and Red Bull, and Vettel (as has been indicated, though not conclusively, many times) was the Red Bull favourite and protige. Don't be so naive as to think he was not given a massive amount more support at that team than any other driver in terms of those on his engineering team, resources etc. Of course this is not evidenced, but then it wouldn't be would it? It would have been all very clandestine.
Personally - and it is of course my own personal opinion - I believe that in theory you are completely right that shining at a lower level team is a great way to prove yourself as belonging in F1 and deserving of a better race seat. However as with most statements there are qualifications and exceptions. In this case I would say 'except for anyone who has the misfortune to end up at Torro Rosso'... the term 'toxic' is being thrown around right now relating to the latest tragedy to befall the US, and this is a very apt term, and one that I have used for the last couple of years to describe the atmosphere at Torro Rosso.
All just my own personal opinion based on what I've seen, read and looked into of course.
Favourite racing series: F1, Indycar, NASCAR, GP2, F3, Formula E, Trophee Andros, DTM, WTCC, BTCC, World Endurance... etc. etc.
The drivers they have dropped were not cut out for F1 and any drivers that didn't have their contract renewed had simply disappointed.