2017 review: Out with the old, in with the new at Toro Rosso

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F1i's look back over the 2017 Formula 1 world championship season, team-by-team and driver-by-driver. Next up: Toro Rosso.

Toro Rosso

The driver's cockpit at Toro Rosso needs a revolving door more than it does a halo cockpit device. The team started off with a line-up consisting of Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat, but by the end of the year - and after a confusing transition period - it had changed to Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley. The team also fell out with its engine suppliers Renault, with a tremendously public spat at Brazil that came close to benching the entire team for the final two races of the year.

In the circumstances it's small wonder that Toro Rosso's season came unstuck: in the first six races of the season their cars were in the points seven times, but in the corresponding final six races they managed the same feat only once amidst an outbreak of reliability problems.

Tenth place in the US proved to be Kvyat's final contribution to the team, as he was let go immediately afterwards in an example of no good deed going unpunished. It's to be hoped that after an at times chaotic 2017, better things await the Italian team next year when they join up with new engine providers Honda.

Read on: Daniil Kvyat

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.