Scott Speed: Former American F1 Driver

Name:

Scott Speed

Born:

January 24, 1983 in Manteca, USA

Team:

Toro Rosso

Height:

5'8"

Weight:

147 lbs.

Hobbies:

Golf, rock climbing, cycling

Previous F1 Teams:

• 2006 - 2007 Toro Rosso

  Victories:

  0

  Background:

  Scott won several karting championships in the U.S. But his ultimate goal was to race in Formula 1. For an American from California it seemed a remote dream until he discovered the Red Bull driver search that was designed to provide American drivers with a budget and help to lift them up the categories to the highest level. Scott won the "audition" and chose to move to Europe to race in the lower levels of car racing along with all the other F1 hopefuls. By his second year, he won the Formula Renault German and Eurocup titles. In 2005 he finished third in the GP2 series, racing at F1 events.

  His Career Thus Far:

  Although it looked as if Scott's career was blessed by timing and Red Bull money, it was far from so simple. In his first year in racing in Europe Scott was hit with ulcerative colitis - a rare, debilitating disease of the intestine that left him bed-ridden and anemic. When he did race, he was forced to do so wearing a kind of diaper. Yet he pulled through and not only won the title in 2004, but he beat the disease with a change in medical approach.

  It has sometimes been suggested that Scott landed a seat in F1 thanks to being American at a time when the sport needed to endear itself to the U.S. market - especially after the U.S. Grand Prix fiasco at Indianapolis in 2005, when only six cars took part in the race. In fact, Scott proved in both the lower categories and in his first season in F1 that he merits his place. Unfortunately, however, no sooner had the U.S. lost the U.S. Grand Prix than Speed was asked to leave the Toro Rosso team. Again it looked as if the two things were linked. But Speed had a disagreement with a team director that was more likely to have caused the initial problem.

  First American in Formula 1:

  When Scott joined the Toro Rosso team in 2006, no American driver had raced in Formula 1 since Michael Andretti in 1993. Andretti's failure to prepare properly for the series led to a quick exit. Scott, on the other hand, through the Red Bull program, not only lived in Europe but he had also raced in Europe like any other F1 driver. Joining Tonio Liuzzi as teammate, Scott showed that he was the equal to the best of them, as Scott stood up to Liuzzi's performance, or bettered him. Unfortunately, in the summer of 2007 during his second season with the team, Speed was involved in disagreements with his team directors that would eventually cost him his job. Before the season started the team had already begun to apply pressure as the decision to award him the drive was delayed until just before the season began.

  Character:

  If there is one area in which Scott still had to prove himself after a year and a half in the sport, it was in terms of character and fitting in the Formula 1 circus. With his results on the track and particularly through the way he conquered his disease, Scott proved what his character was made of. But he was sometimes criticized by the press as being arrogant, and in the winter before the 2007 season both he and Liuzzi were criticized by the team director, Gerhard Berger, for lack of commitment.