All rookie lineup at Torro Rosso

I think you may mean Renault engine

 

STR also ruins careers.

 

STR is there to bring in new drivers to the sport, give them more than just a chance to show them since they keep the driver in for several seasons. Everyone knows that a career at STR is good for a few years and then you're either good enough to move to the big seat, another team adopts you or you might simply not be good enough.

STR is part of RBR's young driver programme, not the ''this guy is pretty decent, probably not our next champion so lets just keep him driving in STR until he's 38 because we're such nice guys'' programme.

Vergne is a good driver, but was he good enough to get the RBR seat? I don't know. When news came last year that the Webber seat would become available Ricciardo truly showed whose boss, and I don't think picking Ricciardo over Vergne was a mistake. Kvyat came to STR and matched his teammate more or less (would have been much closer in points if his car didn't fail him so often). For a rookie to do this is quite impressive IMO. Vergne had a strong 2nd half of the season but they decided it was time to give 2 new kids the chance to show what they can do.

This isn't the league where everyone gets a trophy no matter how **** you are. This is the real world. When the CEO retires you don't bump up the PA because he's been working there for 20 years simply because he has seniority, you bump up the person with the most potential. When Vettel left, Kvyat is that person IMO. After 3 years, if Vergne isn't ready now, why continue on with him? They won't think he's ready in another 3 years either.

If vergne is good enough in others eyes he might be picked up by another team. Otherwise he'll have a pretty damn good career in WEC/DTM/Indycar IMO.

 

... it's not often Helmut Marko makes a mistake. But, this one was a doozie. Comedy of errors, this mistake was like dominoes cascading across the Red Bull/Toro Rosso spectrum, and may well translate to his subsequent downfall.

Caught with his pants down, the last guy in Red Bull management to learn of Sebastian Vettel's defection to Ferrari, that Vettel didn't consult him, rattled Marko. That Dieter Mateschitz found out before Marko did, exposed Marko as weak, aloof, outside-looking-in, rather than his right-hand-guy with his finger on the pulse of Red Bull's F1 folly.

Painfully apparent, Marko was blind-sighted, never having realized he'd lost his handle on Vettel. When, in actuality, Vettel was abjectly miserable, deeply affected by English mobs heckling his podium ceremonies, emotionally reeling from Michael Schumacher's catastrophic injury, all the while having to contend with Marko's constant needling, using teammate Ricciardo as an implement for salary negotiation, realization became apparent Vettel didn't leave Red Bull, per se, but instead migrated to Ferrari in search of sanctuary, to finally rid himself of Helmut Marko.

Caught flat-footed, he knee-jerked. In desperation, to prove he's got "the situation" under control, clearly demonstrating he's "factored every permutation" through his mainframe-like F1 brain-matrix to always produce the optimal outcome, under pressure Marko waffled, shooting from the hip, with snap decisions on Kvyat and Verstappen. Sobering reality of snap decisions, when 95% of the time it may seem like a good idea, 5% of the time it really is, leaves Red Bull's driver roster the kindergarten of F1...

"Goo-goo, gaa-gaa. Baby fall down and go boom."

The height of driver mismanagement, even the most keen of analysts scratch our heads, groping to rationalize Marko's irrational, slapdash replacement of... Vettel by Kvyat? Even worse, Kvyat with Verstappen? The height of folly, Vergne with Sainz?

Helmut Marko's fallen into the abyss of a second generation driver rut. Since the Jag-Ford abomination days of yore, Red Bull now demerits the weakest driver line-up of the 4 major F1 teams. The mother of all oversights, by a significant margin, Toro Rosso now demerits the most irresponsible driver roster, in F1 history. This mistake could get somebody killed (or, worse) - asj.

 

Its also responsible for giving those mentioned drives in the first place.
STR does not have some duty to the F1 public.
It has to make money.
Does having 4 cars on the grid (vs 2) with Red Bull sponsorship justify any minute increase in sales of the product ? I bet now.