While making his Formula 1 podium debut, French racer Isack Hadjar scored the sixth podium for F1’s other team from Italy in its 40-year history. But just how did the David that is the Faenza-based team take on the championship’s Goliaths to stand on F1’s podium?
For the past 40 years there have been two teams from Italy competing in Formula 1: Ferrari and the squad from Faenza. While Ferrari has scored race wins and world championships in that time, Italy’s other team has had a more humble career.
It made its Formula 1 debut as Minardi back in 1985, and things didn’t start particularly strongly. In its first season, the team only finished three races, managing a best result of 8th at the 1985 Australian Grand Prix.
Under the Minardi name, the team picked up a handful of F1 championship points, and managed a best result of fourth on three occasions. Over the ensuing four decades since it launched into F1, the Faenza squad has had four different names and has gone on to claim six F1 podiums during its stint in the championship.
Here’s a rundown of how the historic team went from fledgling F1 upstart to eventual race winner over its time in the championship.
Race winner Sebastian Vettel, Toro Rosso
Photo by: Sutton Images
2008 Italian Grand Prix
Minardi became Toro Rosso for the 2006 season after it was bought by Red Bull, and it only took two years and a wild Italian Grand Prix for the re-named squad to achieve its dream: an F1 race win.
A wet qualifying session on the Saturday set a mixed-up grid for the race in Monza, with Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel setting the record as F1’s youngest ever pole sitter ahead of McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen in second and senior Red Bull team racer Mark Webber in third.
In Sunday’s race, the conditions were equally mixed, which meant Vettel had to fight the weather to keep his lead of the race. Visibility issues caused by the spray helped the German carve out a two-second lead early on, which quickly grew to six over second-place Kovalainen by lap eight.
Teams further back mixed up strategies, with Robert Kubica gambling on a one-stop that helped him jump to third after starting 11th. But nobody could top Vettel on that day, and he picked up the Faenza team’s first race win and podium with a dominant display that earned him the record as F1’s youngest ever race winner – a record he held until Max Verstappen broke it in 2016.
Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 3rd position, celebrates on the podium
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
2019 German Grand Prix
In its final year as Toro Rosso, the Faenza team returned to the podium thanks to an ambitious effort from Daniil Kvyat at the 2019 German Grand Prix.
The Russian racer’s weekend didn’t get off to a great start, and he finished Saturday’s qualifying session in 14th. However, heavy rain on Sunday opened the door to Kvyat and the Faenza team.
The race began behind the safety car, and there were four formation laps before the grand prix got underway with a standing start. While some struggled off the line, Kvyat got away well and stayed out of trouble. He timed the switch to intermediates well, and again made the jump to slicks at just the right time – passing Lance Stroll whose dry tyres were starting to show their age.
A flurry of collisions and technical issues saw racers such as Lando Norris, Alex Albon and Valtteri Bottas all retire from the grand prix, with just 13 racers making the chequered flag. One of those drivers was Kvyat, who came home third behind Vettel and Verstappen.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 1st position, and Pierre Gasly, Toro Rosso, 2nd position, on the podium with their trophies
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
2019 Brazilian Grand Prix
Before the end of the season, Toro Rosso picked up a third podium at, you guessed it, another crazy race.
French racer Pierre Gasly was the lead Toro Rosso driver after qualifying seventh ahead of team-mate Kvyat in 16th. The field got away from the line with little fanfare, and the race appeared to be falling into the usual F1 rhythms with tyres degrading and teams making stops as required. However, the safety car was brought out on lap 52 after Bottas retired, shaking up the order. On lap 66, it came out again when the Ferraris of Vettel and Charles Leclerc took each other out and, while the safety car was out, Stroll retired with mechanical issues. Then, shortly after the restart, Lewis Hamilton tangled with Albon, which meant the pair tumbled down the order.
This paved the way for Gasly to jump from fourth to second and, while Hamilton regained his form to cross the line in third, a post-race penalty for his clash with Albon meant that the finishing order was Verstappen in first, ahead of debut podium finishers Gasly and Carlos Sainz.
Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri, 1st position, celebrates on arrival in Parc Ferme
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
2020 Italian Grand Prix
A new year, a new name and the same driver lineup helped the Faenza team to its fourth podium – a second at its home track in Monza.
Now racing as Scuderia Alpha Tauri, the team went into the race with its drivers in 10th, Gasly, and 11th, Kvyat. While Kvyat struggled to move through the pack and finished the race in ninth, Gasly’s race went better. Much better.
The Frenchman jumped up the order thanks to a well-timed stop, which came just as the safety car was called due to a stricken Kevin Magnussen. Gasly changed his tyres just before the pit entry was closed. Hamilton’s team didn’t get the memo that the pit lane was closed, and he was called in for a tyre change.
After two laps, the pit was re-opened and the majority of the grid went in for new tyres, which meant Gasly was free to leap-frog most of the racers into third – behind Hamilton, who now faced a 10-second stop-go penalty, and Lance Stroll, who hadn’t fitted new rubber.
Stroll went wide on the restart, which cleared the way for Gasly to take second, before Hamilton jumped into the pit to serve his penalty. Gasly was then faced with the unenviable task of holding off Kimi Raikkonen and Sainz for the remaining 28 laps of the race. The Fin slowly dropped back through the pack, while Sainz kept the pressure on until the line – eventually finishing second behind Gasly and ahead of Stroll.
Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri, 3rd position, on the podium
Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images
2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
The 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix might be the race that most of us remember learning about Mercedes’ brake balance switch after Hamilton’s spectacular lock-up on the restart, but it was also the final podium that team Faenza picked up as Alpha Tauri.
Once again, it was Gasly at the wheel of the leading AT02 after qualifying fourth – a position he held onto for the majority of the race. However, in the closing stages of the grand prix a spectacular tyre failure ended Verstappen’s race and moved Gasly up the order.
The extensive wreckage left strewn over the main straight in Azerbaijan called for a red flag and, on the restart, Hamilton messed up big time. The Mercedes racer locked up and went straight on at the first corner, falling rapidly through the pack.
Gasly, meanwhile, seized the opportunity and held onto his podium place – eventually ending the race in third behind Vettel and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.
Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls
Photo by: Joe Portlock / LAT Images via Getty Images
2025 Dutch Grand Prix
The Faenza team’s sixth podium came on its 736th race in Formula 1, this weekend in the Netherlands.
The weekend began with issues for the team, with Racing Bulls swapping the engine in Isack Hadjar’s VCARB 02 between FP1 and FP2 after encountering sensor issues, and then asking him to park his car on track in the second practice. Those problems were a distant memory come Saturday, when Hadjar qualified on the second row alongside Verstappen for the Dutch Grand Prix.
The Frenchman then held onto his position throughout, fending off attacks from Ferrari’s Leclerc and the Mercedes of George Russell as the race went on. He was sitting comfortably in fourth, which would have been his best result yet in his rookie season, when smoke began billowing from the McLaren of Norris up the road.
With Norris out, Hadjar was promoted to third, and he just had to survive a safety car restart and a few final laps of racing to claim his first podium in F1. He did just that, silencing his remaining doubters in the process.
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