Tost in brutal parting swipe at 'too stupid' AlphaTauri staff before F1 exit

27 November 2023 , 13:11

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The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was Franz Tost's last race as AlphaTauri F1 team principal (Image: Getty Images)

Franz Tost was left "p***ed" at his AlphaTauri strategists for a blunder in his final race in charge of the team.

The Austrian joined the Faenza-based squad in 2006 when it was bought by Red Bull to become their sister team. And he has led it ever since, but the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was the 67-year-old's final race in charge.

And it ended on a sour note. AlphaTauri were aiming for seventh in the constructors' championship but, in the end, fell short by just three points.

Yuki Tsunoda had qualified sixth on the grid and was well positioned to get the job done. The Japanese racer drove well but was left out for too long on his first stint as the team gambled on a one-stop strategy.

He showed excellent pace throughout and, had he been on the same strategy as everyone else, might have managed the sixth-placed finished he needed for AlphaTauri to leapfrog Williams in the standings. But his tyres faded on the one-stop and he could manage only eighth in the end.

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Speaking after his final race in charge, Tost made it clear how angry he was with his strategists for their blunder. "I'm p***ed because we were too stupid to choose a correct strategy and because I had a lot of discussions on the pit wall," the Austrian fumed to Sky Germany.

"I said, 'Bring Yuki in, we're closing slowly'. I was told that it would work out. It's pure arithmetic. I actually realised straight away that it probably wouldn't work out.

"I'll say now, a seventh place was 100 percent realistic for Yuki. Sixth, not so much, because Perez was behind us in qualifying and was simply faster [in the race]. So you had to take it into account that he was ahead. We messed it up because the technicians who sit in front of the computer for hours couldn't figure out a strategy that would ultimately work."

Tost went on to clarify that he will remain in his post until the end of next month. "I have appointments in the office on Monday afternoon. This will continue until December 23rd or 24th, so I'm still fully occupied until December 31," he explained.

But from January the team will have a new leader for the first time since Red Bull bought it 18 years ago. Former Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies has been brought in to take charge in a new era for the team, which will announce its new name and branding in the coming weeks.

Daniel Moxon