Toro Rosso to look at experienced drivers

Amid fresh speculation that Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais could make the switch to Formula One in 2008 with the Red Bull junior outfit, the team have confirmed that they are not set on just taking youngsters.

The team were originally set up as a way of helping bringing on Red Bull junior drivers, but team principal Franz Tost and team owner Gerhard Berger have suggested such a policy may be abandoned in the future.

"Now in F1, all the teams are very competitive - you have six manufacturers and must work very hard not to end up in the last position," Tost said in an interview with autosport.com this week.

"And if you have two young drivers, it's easy to end up in the last position.

"For sure, this is not the target of (Red Bull owner Dietrich) Mateschitz, Berger and Red Bull generally. If you have an experienced driver and a young driver, then why not? This was one of the reasons why Red Bull bought the team."

Berger said that his desire was to remain with young drivers, but if the team felt they were better off going with more experienced drivers then he would accept it.

"Generally, we would like to work with young drivers. And that's a personal interest too - I like young drivers," explained Berger. "It's very difficult when they're in their first year because you pay for a lot of mistakes - but young guys fit our team and we're going to try and look into young ones.

"But at the end of the day, we are 100 per cent performance orientated and it just doesn't matter which nationality or age. (It's) what can move our car the best way."

Bourdais tested for Toro Rosso at the end of last year and the team have confirmed he is in the running for a race seat with them next year, after his contract in Champ Car expires.

Read the full interview with Berger and Tost in this week's journal of autosport.com.