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A bull run for F1’s Toro Rosso
26 Sep 2008
The Toro Rosso Formula One team has good reason to be confident going into this weekend's inaugural Singapore Grand Prix.
Two weeks ago, its first race victory crowned star driver Sebastian Vettel the youngest-ever Grand Prix winner, and recently-released 2007 accounts show its off-track performance has also moved up a gear.
Toro Rosso is jointly-owned by former F1 driver Gerhard Berger and Austrian drinks company Red Bull, which is believed to be investing £30 million in the team.
This powered turnover to £75 million from £43.5 million the previous year, and produced a £400,000 after-tax profit — its first in more than 10 years.
Red Bull bought the team from Australian aviation entrepreneur Paul Stoddart in 2005 and turned it round from being the worst-performing outfit in F1.
Last year, the book value of its fixed assets nearly doubled to £6 million, it halved its creditors to £9.6 million and its headcount grew 18% to 143.
