Owned by drinks firm Red Bull, Scuderia Toro Rosso hits the circuit in 2006 as a new team formed from what was the Minardi team. Under the ownership of first Giancarlo Minardi and then later Paul Stoddart, Minardi competed in F1 for 21 years and was never a contender for race wins or titles, but did attain almost cult status amongst its many fans.

Red Bull announced at the 2005 Belgian Grand Prix that it was to purchase the Minardi team and duly took control of the team on November 1st. Franz Tost arrives from BMW to run the team while Red Bull make clear that the team is to remain Italian-based and is to be run independently of its Red Bull Racing team.

On the driving front American racer Scott Speed and former F3000 Champion Vitantonio Liuzzi will race for the new team with GP2 racer Neel Jani graduating to the test role. Minardi may be gone, but hopefully in Scuderia Toro Rosso, its sprit will live on.