Gerhard Berger has rejected speculation that Toro Rosso plans to rely on sister squad Red Bull for the design of its formula one car for 2007.
It has been whispered that rival teams are considering legal action over the energy drink company’s rumoured plans to design a single chassis for both Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso.
Alongside Red Bull mogul Dietrich Mateschitz, former GP winner Berger co-owns Toro Rosso.
Also according to gossip, the other controversial alternative for Toro Rosso is to follow a similar path as this year in simply racing the previous Red Bull car.
“That’s not true,” Berger told Italian magazine Autosprint, rejecting both theories.
He said: “It will be a project carried out in house, on the basis of our experience.”
Faenza based Toro Rosso caught the ire of rival teams last season when the ‘STR1’ seemed to be a reworked 2005 Red Bull.
The team is understood to have escaped falling foul of the regulations, however, by arguing that the 2005 Red Bull was actually designed by a Ford subsidiary — a convenient loophole and a remnant of the team’s days as Jaguar.
Moreover, Toro Rosso argued before the start of the 2006 season that the STR1 was ‘fully built’ at its Faenza HQ.
GMMF1
DailyF1News.com
