The STR2 was developed from the Red Bull RB3, itself designed by Adrian Newey — widely regarded as one of Formula One's most successful car designers, with championship-winning cars previously at Williams and McLaren. To provide a legal framework for the arrangement, both Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso used a chassis produced by a newly formed entity called Red Bull Technology, which was presented as an independent third-party developer. This loophole allowed both teams to field what was effectively the same car without formally breaching the Concorde Agreement's requirement that teams construct their own chassis.
Powerplant for the STR2 was the Ferrari 056 V8, specifically the 2006-specification unit rather than the contemporaneous 2007-spec engine, a decision driven by Toro Rosso's customer engine policy and cost considerations. This made the STR2 the first Faenza-based Formula One car to use a Ferrari engine since the Minardi M191 in 1991, and the first V8-powered Faenza-based car since the Minardi M197 in 1997. The STR2 also represented the first Toro Rosso car to adopt the mandatory 90-degree V8 configuration required by the regulations.
Spyker and Williams mounted a sustained challenge against the STR2's legality throughout the season, arguing that the car was effectively identical to the Red Bull RB3 and therefore violated the Concorde Agreement's chassis construction rules. Spyker team principal Colin Kolles was particularly vocal in threatening legal action. The controversy simmered throughout 2007 without resulting in the car's exclusion, with the Red Bull Technology arrangement ultimately standing.
The STR2 was initially driven by Vitantonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed. Performance in the first half of the season was poor, hampered significantly by reliability problems with the seamless-shift gearbox — a weakness shared with the sister Red Bull RB3. Speed was replaced by Sebastian Vettel from the Hungarian Grand Prix onwards, and results improved modestly in the second half of the year as both Red Bull teams extracted greater reliability from the mechanical package.
The STR2 received ongoing aerodynamic development through the year, often tracking but diverging from the parallel RB3 programme. A new front wing similar to the Red Bull's Monaco-specification upgrade was fitted at the Monaco Grand Prix. Further revisions followed at the Turkish Grand Prix with barge board developments, and an arch-style nose section over the front wing was introduced around the Italian Grand Prix — a configuration the RB3 did not adopt until the Japanese round.
The season's highlight came in China, where Vettel finished fourth and Liuzzi sixth, delivering a double points finish. In total, the team scored eight World Championship points, enough for seventh in the Constructors' Championship following McLaren's disqualification from that standings.
Rather than introducing a new car from the start of 2008, Toro Rosso raced a significantly updated variant designated the STR2B for the first five rounds. The STR2B incorporated the new McLaren Electronic Systems standardised ECU mandated for 2008, which removed electronic driver aids including traction control and engine braking. Higher headrests around the cockpit were added to meet updated driver safety regulations, and a new gearbox compliant with the 2008 rule requiring a unit to last four consecutive races was installed. The STR2B retained the 2007-specification Ferrari 056 engine rather than upgrading to the 2008 unit.
A substantial front suspension rework was carried out during the Barcelona pre-season test in early February 2008, targeting better compatibility with Bridgestone Potenza tyres and improving airflow efficiency from the front wing to the rear diffuser.
Sébastien Bourdais — four-consecutive-time Champ Car champion — joined Vettel for 2008. Results with the STR2B were largely disappointing. Both cars failed to finish at the Australian Grand Prix, though Bourdais was classified seventh having completed over 90 percent of the race distance. The Malaysian Grand Prix yielded nothing for either driver. After the Spanish Grand Prix, where both drivers were eliminated in separate first-lap collisions, the STR2B was retired in favour of the new STR3, whose debut had already been delayed from Turkey to Monaco as the team lacked sufficient parts to run the full programme at Istanbul.
The STR2 marked the final chapter of the Red Bull-supplied customer chassis era for Toro Rosso. From 2010 onwards the team moved to entirely in-house designed cars, ending the controversial arrangement that had defined the team's first years. Despite the regulatory storm surrounding it, the STR2 delivered competitive results when reliability held, and provided Sebastian Vettel with the platform that accelerated his rise to prominence — he would claim his and the team's first Formula One victory the following season with the successor STR3.