Need for Speed

The last two Americans to try their hands at F1 - Danny Sullivan in 1983 and Michael Andretti a decade later - had one unfortunate statistic in common: both appeared for just that one season and subsequently were not seen again in Grand Prix racing.

For a while this winter, it looked as though Scott Speed might become another 'one hit wonder', but in the end he bucked the trend and duly appeared in Australia to start his second season for Scuderia Toro Rosso.

For anyone who had not paid attention to F1 since Brazil, that was perhaps no great surprise, because at the end of last season it was a given that both he and Tonio Liuzzi would continue into 2007.

Instead mixed messages came out of the Toro Rosso camp through the winter. Gerhard Berger said that it was likely that both drivers would continue, but by no means definite. Sebastian Bourdais had a run, but it was clear that he was committed to Champ Car for '07.

There was talk of the team seeking a paying driver, although there was a pretty short list of suitably qualified candidates. There were even suggestions, which Berger denies, that he wanted to lure back a big name such as Hakkinen or Montoya, who would help to bring in sponsorship.

The bottom line appeared to be that the team needed some extra cash, and Red Bull and Gerhard had different ideas about from where that extra funding was going to come.

When Liuzzi was finally announced as a driver at the car's launch it was made clear that Speed's deal was dependant on a few mysterious contractual issues. Elaborating on that, Berger made great play of his drivers' commitment, suggesting that Liuzzi had played the game, and Speed had not.

In the end Speed was confirmed, as we had long expected, and we were left to wonder quite why it was necessary for Berger to play a game that ultimately cannot have done much for the morale in the camp. Gerhard himself might have developed a thick skin over his years as a driver, but others are more sensitive to the environment around them.

Scott Speed and Gerhard Berger © XPB/LAT

"It was maybe a little bit distracting," says Scott. "But it was just mostly annoying, waking up and every time seeing negative press about myself. But I knew I'd be in the seat in the end, so I just kept my head down and did everything I could to prepare for the year. At the moment I think everyone's on the same page, we're all pushing to try to move forward."

Some of the Berger comments that came out in the media certainly revved Speed up a little. The boss was supposed to have said that his drivers partied too much - something that Gerhard now denies - which was particularly unfair on Speed, who does not even drink alcohol. What really hurt was that focus on commitment, a concept that could be taken in any number of ways.

"If anyone wants to talk about my commitment, I explain this story," speed begins. "My family and me are very, very close together. My dad, my mom and my grandma have been part of my racing life since I was two. We've done everything together.

"I talk to my parents every single day when I'm gone. This winter, I spent one week at my house, and I spent 4-5 weeks in a different state (Arizona) because I had a better training possibility. So I don't sit down and let people say my commitment needs to be more, it's ridiculous."

Berger has implied that what he meant was the drivers' willingness to listen to criticism and try to improve - something that Speed insists that he has been happy to do.

"I think the word commitment goes around for lack of a better word," he says. "Certainly after a year like we had, we all sit down and try and look at the places we could improve, like Gerhard said. And we all try to improve.

"If you can't look at the stuff that you've done wrong whether it's after a race or after a season, and you can't improve from it, then you're not really going to advance yourself. And that's the key. And I think all of us have done that."

The manager's view

The winter uncertainty had an effect not just on Scott, but also on those around him. His co-manager Glen Hinshaw is a former Tour de France cyclist who has a pretty good idea about the sorts of pressures that top sportsmen go through. He confirms that for the most part, Scott himself was able to put the doubts out of his mind.

"It upset his mom and dad and myself more than it upset Scott!," says Hinshaw. "It was very hard, because you don't have the opportunity like you do at a race with the media round to talk through the process. The media in the off-season is looking for every opportunity to make things into more than they are. You don't ever want to go through a media battle in the off-season, because it does nobody any good.

"I think it was more confusing for him than upsetting, because we had sorted everything out before the end of the season. There were internal things within Red Bull and Toro Rosso which needed to be sorted out, and somehow we got in the middle of it. I think Gerhard has fixed all his issues, and Scott did what he needed to do in the off-season, which was focus on his training. He did a really good job."

Glen Hinshaw and Scott Speed © GEPA/Red Bull

Hinshaw knows better than anyone else how hard Speed has worked to get where he is, but he acknowledges that in questioning the commitment of the STR drivers, Berger was trying to make a valid point.

"I think that statement was geared at their commitment to the detail," he says. "Their commitment to training is clearly there, the commitment to driving, the commitment to sacrificing family life, the travelling, all the things they do. But they just need to step it up a notch.

"I think that was the point Gerhard was trying to make. I don't think he meant anything more than that. It was OK, you've got through your first season, now we need to bring it up a notch. The team is trying to do the same thing with the car, the engineers are trying to do it with the team. And Scott and Tonio are both training harder than they ever have, both off track and with the engineers."

As a sportsman, Hinshaw knows that it's important to feel wanted by your employer, and he admits that the situation did some damage, adding: "Any performer or athlete wants to know that the team is behind them. There was a bit of that questioning going on, because of what we read. But he kept dedicated, and that's what's most important."

For the moment, those doubts are consigned to history... "At least until the later part of the season," says Hinshaw. "And then we'll see what goes on for next year. Right now it's get the most out of the car he can - that's the number one focus right now."

A great package

At the end of the day Speed is in a pretty healthy situation, certainly compared to last year. He has an Adrian Newey car mated to a Ferrari engine, and while the team is struggling to get the most out of the package, at least there is potential. Last year the team was saddled with a second-hand car and an obsolete, restricted, engine, and in effect ran to its own rules.

It is a learning curve and Scott admits: "Obviously at the moment we're not even close to getting the maximum potential out of the car, that's clear. On Adrian's behalf, I think to design something from a clean sheet of paper is very difficult.

"Our car has definitely got a lot of untapped potential, and we're in a completely different situation to last year. This year we're only looking forward to the end of the year, because we know we're going to go forward. Last year was the exact opposite."

Scott Speed has his first test of the Toro Rosso STR2 Ferrari in Bahrain © XPB/LAT

The initial problem for the team this year was not making the car go fast, but making it at all. So, in the end, the delay over Speed's seat confirmation announcement didn't cost him too much, because the team did not have a car ready to run. The Bahrain test was the first time that it really put in some miles.

"Luckily enough for me most of the laps the car ran, I was driving, so it was OK," he says. "We did 125 laps on one day, and while we were not the quickest in terms of performance, the car itself felt really good. It was for the most part reliable. I think there are a couple of other teams looking worse than us, reliability wise."

Australia was inconclusive - neither driver made it through the first round of qualifying and Speed ended his race in the gravel after a loss of pressure in the front tyres. There's clearly more to come, and Scott himself is also a better package than he was this time last year.

"Experience in F1 is priceless," he states. "I'm definitely going in with a lot better picture of what could happen, and I think I'm certainly a lot better prepared. At the beginning of the year I think it's going to be difficult for us to compete directly, but certainly by the end of the year we should be on good form. I think we have a good chance of being able to catch up to the guys ahead."