Toro Rosso and Honda choose youth over experience

Looks like Rubens Barrichello is out of a job. We hear that Honda has decided - at last - on its driver line-up for next season. And the two lucky drivers are… drum roll… Jenson Button (no surprise there) and Bruno Senna.

Senna’s name brings with it a lot of financial muscle - enough for Ayrton’s nephew to get the nod over Rubens and Lucas di Grassi.

With new rules in place for 2009, we would have stuck with the experience of Barrichello (Murray Walker agrees), who didn’t do much wrong this year. He may be getting on a bit, but he is still a great driver, with at least one more season in him.

We’re yet to be convinced that Senna is the real deal - hype follows him everywhere, but much of that is down to his famous surname. Senna II will struggle to match Button’s pace, no doubt.

Meanwhile, over at Toro Rosso…

Rising star makes perfect start for new team

Seb Vettel topped the timesheets on the second day of testing in Barcelona, silencing those observers who believed the young German made a mistake by leaving Toro Rosso to take a seat in an apparently slower car.

However, as good as Vettel’s first day at the new office was, it’s still far too early to glean anything from testing, as each team is experimenting wildly with new aero parts ahead of the new season. For example, the two Ferraris, driven by Luca Badoer and Marc Gene, finished down in 12th and 13th.

The most interesting aspect of the Barcelona sessions is the Toro Rosso drive-off between Seb Buemi, Seb Bourdais (what is it with Toro Rosso and Sebs?) and Takuma Sato.

Bourdais, Buemi and Sato set to fight for a seat

Scuderia Toro Rosso, one of the only teams yet to finalise its line-up for 2009, will test a trio of drivers at Barcelona next week. The three men in the hot seats are:

1) Sebastien Buemi Red Bull’s Swiss test driver

2) Takuma Sato Japanese veteran

3) Sebastien Bourdais Speccy Frenchman who drove for the team in 2008, without impressing anyone much

So it looks very much like Buemi, Sato and Bourdais will be fighting for two seats - one man will miss out (yes, we are brilliant at maths) But which one?

Formula 1 is a team sport, kids

Ferrari won the constructors’ championship, but does that mean they were the best team in 2008? No, it doesn’t. In fact, given the massive resources at the Scuderia’s disposal, you might even argue that they underperformed - with the best car on the grid, and two of the best drivers, perhaps they should have won the driver’s title too, as well as winning the constructors title by a bigger margin.

Looking down the grid, we find teams that punched above their weight, admirably: Toro Rosso had a wonderful season, outperforming the senior Red Bull outfit. BMW Sauber were remarkably consistent and could have done even better, had they not decided to switch focus to their 2009 car halfway through the campaign. Renault started slowly but finished stronger than anyone, while Toyota had a solid year too.

Anyway, a few names to conjure with there. What say you?

Vote below:

J-P offered F1 seat for 2009, but he said no

Toro Rosso wanted to sign Juan-Pablo Montoya as a replacement for Red Bull-bound Sebastian Vettel.

Franz Tost, STR’s Team Principal, has revealed that he looked into whether the Colombian was interested in a return to F1. “Unfortunately he no longer wants to be in Formula One,” Tost told Auto Motor und Sport. The magazine also claimed that Nelson Piquet Jr was also offered Vettel’s seat, but Piquet is staying with Renault.

Who will take Vettel’s seat then? Swiss rookie Sebastien Buemi, Japanese journeyman Takuma Sato and Brazilian glamour boy Bruno Senna are all rumoured to be in the frame - two of those three drivers could end up with a drive in 2009, as Sebastien Bourdais isn’t guaranteed to keep his seat either.

Which driver line-up do you think Toro Rosso should opt for? Vote below:

Gridcrasher rates each driver based on their performance in 2008

Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso)

Best finish: 1st (Italy)
Best qualifying: 1st (Italy)
Total points: 30

The story of his season: Vettel made a terrible, luckless start to the year with four straight retirements. Thereafter, he was superb, with a series of eye-catching drives and results - none more so than at the Italian GP, where he kept his head in poor conditions to win, having started from pole. As a result, he has earned promotion from Toro Rosso to the senior Red Bull team in 2009 (although based on the second half of 2008, that may not be such a good thing).

Gridcrasher rates each driver based on their performance in 2008

Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso)

Best finish: 7th (Australia, Belgium)
Best qualifying: 4th (Italy)
Total points: 4

The story of his season: The quiet Frenchman has lived in the shadow of team-mate Seb Vettel all season. Vettel is cool, popular and successful; in stark contrast, Bourdais wears red-framed spectacles and is therefore about as cool as a children’s TV presenter. This season has been a big learning curve for Bourdais, but he seems to be getting the hang of this F1 lark - he has finished every race since Monaco and May, and his qualifying performances, woeful in the first half of 2008, have definitely improved.

Team boss fears the end is nigh

Toro Rosso co-owner Gerhard Berger has suggested the future is looking pretty bleak for his team. The Austrian believes the pinch of the global credit crunch combined with a new regulation that every team must have a car designed and built at its own factory from 2010 could spell the end for Toro Rosso. The team is currently heavily reliant on sister team Red Bull for a helping hand to get its cars on the track. Berger said:

“I would struggle to carry on alone (without Red Bull).I need the backing of a car manufacturer, which isn’t there.”

It would be a shame to see a team that has come on in leaps and bounds forced to pack in.