STR chiefs pave way for driver clean-sweep

(GMM) Toro Rosso bosses Franz Tost and Gerhard Berger at the Nurburgring paved the way for an imminent clean-sweep of the Faenza based team's driver lineup.

Scott Speed's seat now appears to be in immediate jeopardy, but his teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi also did not escape the management's grim mood after the European grand prix on Sunday.

STR refused to issue a meaningful press release after the race in Germany, partly because of the double DNF but also because Liuzzi and his engineers were locked in an argument about what caused him to crash.

Italian Liuzzi told trackside reporters that his power steering had failed, but Berger disagreed: "We checked his steering and there was no fault. He approached the situation simply too fast for the amount of water."

In fairness to the 24-year-old, the collecting water at turn one claimed several drivers before the red flag was shown, including the highly rated Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Adrian Sutil and Jenson Button.

But Berger told Auto Motor und Sport: "We were the only team that lost both cars to accidents. That is unacceptable."

Team principal Tost's criticism, meanwhile, is even more general.

"In free practice our drivers do decent lap times, but the closer to qualifying we come, the slower they go."

Toro Rosso is now flirting openly with BMW's Sebastian Vettel about 2007 and beyond, while a contractual 'option' to secure the services of Sebastien Bourdais for 2008 expires next Tuesday.