As he prepares to retire and step down from his current post as AlphaTauri team boss at the end of the season, Franz Tost has revealed who is the fastest of all the winning drivers he has worked with over the years.
Tost became team principal of AlphaTauri (formerly Toro Rosso) in 2005 when Red Bull Minardi took over. Since then, the Austrian has not only accompanied the rise of the team, but also of many Red Bull Academy drivers who have made it into Formula 1.
These drivers include world champions Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel, as well as race winners Daniel Ricciardo, Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly, as well as other drivers in the grid such as Alex Albon and current AlphaTauri racer Yuki Tsunoda.
And when Tost was asked ahead of the Miami Grand Prix which of these drivers was the fastest, he replied: “Of course it’s easy to say. I could say Max Verstappen now; I could say Sebastian Vettel.
“They were the fastest because otherwise they wouldn’t have won as many races and championships, but there were other drivers too. They weren’t much slower but maybe they were on the wrong team at the wrong time or whatever but obviously these two are the best.”
When asked how he reflects on 18 years of working with these drivers, Tost said: “I think when Dietrich Mateschitz decided to buy the Minardi team he said that one of the main pillars was the education of the young Red Bull drivers be, and that’s it.” The team did it.
“Looking back there were some very talented drivers like Sebastian Vettel and then of course Verstappen. I know they won a lot of races, championships etc but there are also some other riders who were really fast like Carlos Sainz, like Pierre Gasly, Ricciardo, Daniel and now Yuki Tsunoda.
“And there are a few riders who have really improved a lot over time and they’ve been on our team and they’ve done a very professional job, they’ve progressed and that’s good to see.”
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