'Unfair To Say Now' Verstappen And Vettel Would Be Tost's Best Drivers

Saturday, 16 December 2023 at 15:21

Updated at Saturday, 16 December 2023 at 15:25

Former AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost was recently asked to rate the best drivers he had ever worked with; however, his answer was not that simple.

One of the longest-serving team principals in Formula One - Franz Tost, retired after the last race of the 2023 season - the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Tost was the principal with Toro Rosso (AlphaTauri's former name) ever since the team was bought by Red Bull GmbH in 2005 from Minardi, and throughout his career, he worked with many super-talented drivers we know today.

Toro Rosso used to be a Red Bull's junior team, and Tost coached drivers like Carlos Sainz, Daniel Ricciardo, Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly, Max Verstappen, and Sebastian Vettel since their first F1 races.

Seventeen different drivers went through Toro Rosso during Tost's time in the position of team principal. Asked to pick the best of all the drivers, the former team principal responded:

“"It would be unfair to say now. Of course, Max Verstappen or Sebastian Vettel. They impressed me, but I must say also the other drivers."”

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With the benefit of hindsight, it is always easy to pick the two World Champions. On the other hand, it might have been tougher to tell when each of them was only a rookie. Tost described Verstappen and Vettel in their first seasons:

“"When they came to us, I must say, they had a very professional approach. And they worked really close together with the team."”

Sebastian Vettel achieved the first win for Toro Rosso in the team's history. Then he went to Red Bull and became the first driver to win four consecutive Dirvers' World Championships.

Max Verstappen was the youngest driver to ever drive a Formula One car - not even 18 years old. He is not with Red Bull, has three consecutive Championships in his pocket, and is on his way to equal Vettel's record. Tost continued:

““What I liked is how they developed themselves because this is also an important factor from the sporting side, but also from the human side.”

On the other hand, Tost also praised the remaining 15 drivers, suggesting there was something special about every single one of them. He added:

““From the 17 drivers, I have none in mind where I would say ‘forget him, he is totally useless’. They all had their strengths and they were all good characters."”