Franz Tost about contracting Max

Published on 21 August 2014 by Johan Peeters

Surrounded by the world's media, Scuderia Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost spoke about how the decision to contract Max Verstappen taken.

Franz Tost: "I have been watching Max for a couple of years now, going back to when he won the European karting championship and then the World Championship," explained the Austrian. "Dr. Marko and Red Bull had been talking to him for a long time before he was taken on as part of the Red Bull Junior Driver programme. There were other teams interested, but Red Bull won this particular contest.”

“Hopefully we can provide him with a good car and he can do a good job for us. I do not see any risk in taking him on despite his lack of single-seater experience. If you look at his statistics, he won everything in karts, including the European championship and last year, he easily won the World Championship. This year, he came into Formula 3, the most competitive series and, out of 27 races, he won eight times, he finished 17 of them in the top five and in others he retired with mechanical failures.”

“As an example, at the Norisring, where the lap time is about 50 seconds, he was 1.5 seconds faster than anyone in the wet. Another factor is his car control, as he is very smooth and his feeling for the grip level is really outstanding. I believe he is one of the most talented young drivers out there. Yes, he is 16 on paper, but when you look at how he drives, if you talk to him, he is much more mature than that."