STR sets no driver decision deadline

(GMM) There is no deadline for the announcement of Toro Rosso's race driver lineup for the 2009 season, the Faenza based team insists.

With the exception of the beleaguered Honda Racing F1 outfit, Red Bull-owned Toro Rosso is now the only team yet to confirm its driver plans for the forthcoming season.

The Swiss rookie Sebastien Buemi is considered a shoo-in for one of the cockpits, while the French incumbent Sebastien Bourdais, and Japanese veteran Takuma Sato were in the pre-Christmas tests effectively vying for the other.

A spokesman for the team told the Dutch portal f1today.nl that Toro Rosso plans to be a sixth team present at the upcoming test at Portugal's new Algarve venue.

But as for the drivers, he added: "The drivers for the coming season have not been specified yet, and we have not set ourselves a timeframe for the decision."

The actual official deadline for teams to finalize their drivers for 2009 is the Thursday prior to the season opener in Australia in late March.