It was driven by Vitantonio Liuzzi, who had started four Grands Prix for the sister Red Bull Racing team in 2005, and Scott Speed, a débutant who was the first American driver to compete in F1 since Michael Andretti in 1993.

[4] 2006 marked a new beginning, as Red Bull had bought the Minardi team which had competed in F1 for twenty years and renamed it using the Italian translation of their brand name.

This was largely due to the year-old chassis, the torque advantage of the V10 being canceled out by traction control, and the lack of engine development and tyre testing given to the team.

Despite both gettings involved in several accidents and mistakes due to their inexperience, the STR duo both drew praise from the part-team owner Gerhard Berger for their performances.

The STR1 is still actively used in the BOSS GP Series, driven by Ingo Gerstl for the Top Speed team and have won the Open Class title from 2016 to 2020 and in 2022.