Photo credits : Red Bull Content Pool
Ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix AlphaTauri announced that Franz Tost will no longer be Team Principal at the end of the season.
With Laurent Mekies returning to Faenza – where he worked as chief engineer and head of vehicle performance until 2014 – to step into the role, Tost will continue collaborating with the team in the 2024 season with a consultancy role.
His work raising young talents…
Tost joined F1 in 2000 alongside a young Ralf Schumacher, working with BMW – who back then was Williams’ engine supplier – where he stayed as Operations Track Manager until the end of 2005.
In that same year Red Bull acquired Minardi and the Austrian became the very first Team Principal of the then Toro Rosso.
A 18-year stint during which he saw many young talents rise and step ahead to drive for Red Bull, fight for the top positions and quite often win.
He worked with the likes of 4-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, was there when a 17 year old Max Verstappen made his debut in a Formula 1 weekend and saw many youngsters grow into great drivers like Gasly, Ricciardo, Sainz and Tsunoda.
“I think, you know, when Dietrich Mateschitz decided to buy the Minardi team, he said one of the main pillars is to educate the young Red Bull drivers, and this is what the team did,” he reflected during Friday’s press conference in Miami.
“Looking back, there were some very high-skilled drivers like Sebastian Vettel, then, of course, Verstappen.”
Bright talents that shined from day one and good drivers who only needed some time to adapt, Tost saw many of both.
“I know they won many races, championships and so on – but there are also some other drivers, they were really fast, like Carlos Sainz, like Pierre Gasly, Ricciardo, Daniel, and now Yuki Tsunoda.
“And there are a couple of drivers, they really improved a lot in the time and they were in our team and they did a very professional job, they developed themselves and that’s good to see.”
But who is the fastest driver the Team Principal encountered in his years in Faenza?
“Of course it’s easy to say. I could say now Max Verstappen, I could say Sebastian Vettel. They were the fastest because otherwise they wouldn’t have won so many races and championships,” he replied.
“But there were also other drivers, they were not much slower but maybe they were at the wrong time in the wrong team or whatever – but these two are the best, of course.”
… and its impact on Red Bull
Being Red Bull’s junior team, his work at Alpha Tauri had quite the impact on the future of the Milton Keynes squad as well, as Team Principal Christian Horner recalled.
“Well, it’s been huge. I mean – as you know, as Franz has said – he’s worked with and groomed a lot of young drivers for us and any driver that could survive a ‘Tosting’ was only ever going to survive at Red Bull Racing.
“So, he did a wonderful job with the young drivers: very disciplined, he would make them all go go-karting, be in the gym.”
A way of living track life – that of Tost – that Horner decided to summarise with his own words.
“I think one of his famous mottos: any day not at a racetrack is a day wasted in your life. And that included Christmas and probably New Year’s Eve!”
While the announcement came suddenly, Tost himself told media that he had been contemplating the choice to step down for quite a while and came to the conclusion it was the right time to “give this position to younger people, more clever people, creative people, motivated people” instead of keeping himself “glued on the seat”.
“He’s contributed such a huge amount. And it’s only understandable that he thinks it’s time to perhaps back-off a little bit,” explained Horner.
“But the contribution that he’s made with Toro Rosso and then of course, AlphaTauri, in developing and nurturing this young talent. He’s done an absolute first class job in that respect for us.”
