What a crippling shame for Scuderia Toro Rosso that hand-me-downs don’t usually come in the form of F1 world championships.

The bottom third of the grid is the highest that Red Bull’s little brother has climbed so far in 2010, as its older, better-equipped sibling slogs it out at the head of the field with Mclaren. And while Franz Tost may quite feel as though he’s won a world championship when he compares his team’s fruitful efforts to the barren scoreboards of Lotus, Hispania Racing and Virgin, ninth in the standings isn’t ideally where the Austrian wants to remain for too much longer.

Speaking to racing website motorsport.com, Tost declared: “I expect a combination of car updates and improved performance from the drivers [at Hockenheim this weekend] and indeed the whole team to bring us more points in what remains of the season. Why could we not do this earlier?”

But does the youthful pairing of Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi have what it takes to elevate the Faenza-based outfit above BMW-Sauber and Williams, their nearest rivals in the competition?

There’s a lot to be said for Toro Rosso’s prowess with youngsters, having nurtured current F1 drivers Sebastian Vettel and Tonio Liuzzi to suitable maturity during five seasons of operation. We’ll never forget Vettel’s dominance at a sodden Monza two years ago, and the squad’s inaugural point was grabbed by Liuzzi at the Brickyard in 2006. The jovial Italian hasn’t done too badly for himself this season either, having helped to bolster Force India to a current 6th in the standings.

Alguersuari and Buemi, 20 and 21 respectively, have scored sporadically so far this year. The older driver narrowly missed out on adding to his total tally of seven points with a 12th place finish at Silverstone; and the Spaniard’s unfortunate spin near the end of the race meant that nor would he be adding to his already-accumulated score of three.

Tost’s kids may be lacking in F1 experience, but providing they’re consistent when it matters they could find themselves really making a difference to the mid-field standings. While we’re highly unlikely to see a Vettel-style lights-to-flag at Hockenheim, the catching and passing of BMW-Sauber is wholly tangible. With five points between the two teams, the heat is most certainly on at the back of the grid.

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