Thursday 24 July at 13:45 : Toro Rosso may be speeding past Red Bull's senior team, according to a Spanish newspaper.

Diario AS claims the Italian team, currently backed by the energy drink baron Dietrich Mateschitz as a junior incarnation for Red Bull Racing, may be ready to consistently set the pace of the four Adrian Newey-penned chassis at grands prix.

STR's Sebastian Vettel has been a consistent performer at races of late, since the Gerhard Berger co-owned team recently received the latest RB4 -- designated the STR3 for Toro Rosso.

Albeit with 2009-spec slick Bridgestone tyres on Wednesday, the German youngster has topped the times at the Jerez test all week so far.

Spain's AS claims Toro Rosso, although under a cloud given Mateschitz's desire to offload his 50 per cent share, is now moving clear because its Ferrari engine is more powerful than the Renault V8 used by the senior team.