“I don’t trust them anymore,” Franz Tost blasts Alpha Tauri engineers for failing to deliver at Bahrain
After underdelivering a Bahrain, Alpha Tauri engineers confront disappointment and disdain from team boss Tost.
Follow Us
Franz Tost (Credits: GPFans)
The Alpha Tauri team principal, Franz Tost, voiced his disappointment with the team’s performance in the season opener in Bahrain, claiming he no longer trusts his engineers. The AT04 fell short of expectations, with both drivers finishing outside the points. Tost said that his technical staff promised major work on the new car during the winter, but this has yet to materialize.
“Unfortunately, I think it’s currently the performance level of the car because we expected a much better car.” Tost said, “Especially on the aerodynamic side, there are different programs going on. The engineers are telling me that we will make some good progress, but I don’t trust them anymore. I just want to see the lap time, because this is the only thing which counts,”
Tost elaborated on the shortcomings of the current package, “Not enough downforce. Therefore the car is unstable under braking, overheating the rear tyres, washing out at the apex, bad traction, everything that you need to do a good lap time.” He also indicated that budgetary constraints would not prevent the team from improving and even revising the car’s design.
“The budget cap does not prevent us doing development work, this is included in our business plan. The question is now, do we go in the right direction? As I mentioned before, during the winter months, we saw that at least on the paper, on the computer, we made significant progress in comparison to last year’s car. But all these figures nowadays, as I mentioned before, I don’t trust them anymore. I want to see now with the next steps, that we go in the right direction, that we can improve the performance of the car, that we are able to do this. And this is a specialist work on the floor, brake ducts, and all the other aerodynamic parts.”
Alpha Tauri team vows to make improvements after a disappointing start to F1 season
Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s racing adviser, has expressed dissatisfaction and outrage with Alpha Tauri’s dismal performance. After having two successful seasons after rebranding from Toro Rosso, the team has fallen short of expectations this season. The Italian team finished second to last in 2022 and had a sluggish start in 2023. They signed the rookie Nyck DeVries, who impressed the paddock with his debut performance in Monza last season, following the departure of Pierre Gasly. The team qualified 14th and 18th for the season opener and had a poor racing performance. Yuki Tsunoda, the team’s Japanese driver, finished eighth in FP1 in Jeddah, although Tost was unimpressed with the team’s performance.
Tost expressed his concern over the team’s progress, given the lack of development and setbacks from the previous season, “We are coming up with updates to the next races; we will bring something to Melbourne and afterward also to Baku. It’s within our program that we bring to nearly every race a small upgrade.”The Alpha Tauri’s difficulties have been linked to a flawed design idea that lacked the necessary downforce, not on the engine side. Red Bull’s engines, or RBPT, operate well, but the team must fix design defects to boost performance.
Given the high expectations established by the team’s engineers, Tost’s unhappiness with the team’s performance is reasonable. Tost’s lack of faith in his engineers, on the other hand, may have an impact on the team’s morale and performance. To regain Tost’s faith and enhance the car’s performance, the engineers will have to work hard. The remaining races will be critical in determining if the team can recover from its dismal start and progress in the championship.
In case you missed it:
Saudi Arabia GP: Rookie Logan Sargent expects a big step up from Williams at Jeddah
Stay Updated!
Justin P Joy
(4859 Articles Published)