F1: Berger: Money Not an Issue for STR's Driving Lineup

F1: Berger: Money Not an Issue for STR's Driving Lineup

Written by: RACER staff
Paris, France – 2/7/2007

Scott Speed was drafted by STR for last week's street demo to launch the Abu Dhabi GP but his future with the squad remains uncertain. (LAT Photo)

Although Scuderia Toro Rosso remains the only Formula 1 team not to have announced any of its drivers for the upcoming Formula 1 season (it also is the only F1 team not to have confirmed the launch date for its upcoming 2007 challenger, the STR2), team boss Gerhard Berger doesn’t seem to be worrying about the issue.

In an interview on Formula 1’s official website, the Austrian insisted that the mystery surrounding Scott Speed and Vitantonio Liuzzi’s future has nothing to do with the need for a driver who would bring money, but admitted other options are still being considered.

“We are still working on our driver side,” he said. “So far it was not the right time to make any announcement as we are in final discussions with our drivers. The moment we are ready, we will make it public.

“Our two ‘06 drivers are in pole position. Most likely we are going this route, but it is not done yet.”

Asked whether triple Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais could be an alternative – the Frenchman tested impressively with the squad this winter, Berger limited himself to saying, “There are options.”

“Money is not an issue,” he continued. “We are trying to get the best guys in our cars. We are looking for performance. Money is more than welcomed, but on the other side we are totally performance orientated and it is the performance that will get a driver a cockpit and not a hand waving a check.

“If our main criteria were money, we would have done this already.”

The Austrian also recognized that STR is looking for additional backers to relieve the pressure of Red Bull owning and funding two squads.

“We are working on it. There are certain leads, but we have not finalized anything yet. But I am sure sooner or later we will have the right sponsor on the team.

“At the moment Red Bull is the main financer.”

There might be others that deserve the drive more then Speed, but I don't want to see him gone. I personally enjoy having an American in Formula 1.

This also confuses me as I thought Speed had a multi year contract with the team when he first signed up.