‘Forget the age’: Franz Tost on the greening of the grid – from the F1 Magazine

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  Toro Rosso team's young driver Max Verstappen shown at the Japanese Grand Prix in October. Toshifumi Kitamura / AFP

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  Formula One drivers Brazilian Tarso Marques (L) and Spaniard Fernando Alonso give the thumbs up for the start of the European Minardi Team's Formula One season 2001 on the steps of State Parliament in Melbourne 28 February 2001. The European Minardi Team was recently acquired by Australian aviation entrepreneur Paul Stoddart, the first Australian to own a Formula One Team since Sir Jack Brabham. AFP PHOTO/PAUL CROCK

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  Great Britain's Jenson Button steers his BMW Williams racer during the Formula One European Grand Prix at the Nuerburgring circuit, Sunday May 21, 2000. (AP Photo/Axel Seidemann)

“Forget the age.”

Franz Tost’s terse reaction reflects the exasperation he feels about the subject he was asked to discuss.

That topic is young drivers and the increasingly youthful look to the Formula One grid.

Tost, the team principal at Toro Rosso, is the obvious man to speak on the subject, given that his team have made history this season with the youngest driver partnership in the sport’s 66-year history.

Carlos Sainz Jr, the son of double World Rally Championship champion Carlos Sainz, was 20 when he was paired with Max Verstappen.

Verstappen’s was the signing that really raised eyebrows; he was only 16 when he was confirmed to a race seat in August last year.

He had matured to 17 years and 166 days when he started the opening race of the season in Australia, making him the youngest driver to start an F1 race.

In Tost’s mind there was no risk in his team using two such youthful drivers because they could already call on considerable racing experience.

“People are always talking about the age,” the Austrian said when he sat down with The National in Japan to discuss the issue. “They have no idea about the background story.

“You can take both drivers. Carlos Sainz started racing when he was six or seven years old. Max Verstappen being the same, five or six years old, going karting every weekend and doing races.

“Only from the driving side they are so measured, being 16, 17, 18 years old, when they already have a lot of experience.”

It is not just Toro Rosso who are looking at youth, Four other drivers – Daniil Kvyat, Felipe Nasr, Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi - will race at Yas Marina on Sunday despite not celebrating their 25th birthday.

Young drivers have always been given a chance in F1, but this season has drawn more focus to it, largely because of Verstappen.

Double world champion Fernando Alonso was 19 when he made his debut in 2001. Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel was the same age when he started his first race, in 2007. Jenson Button, the 2009 champion, was 20 in 2000 when he began in F1.

Other youngsters have not been so successful; some have been one-off starters on the F1 grid.

Toro Rosso, who are owned by Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz, are known for giving youth a chance. Verstappen’s arrival broke the record already held by the team in the person of Jaime Alguersuari, who was 19 when he made his debut in 2009.

Tost believes elite development programmes are behind the early arrival of F1-calibre drivers.

“It is a completely new generation and people have to take that into consideration before they say that a driver is too young,” he said.

“For me a driver is never too young. A driver is either too fast or too slow, but never too young or too old.”

Verstappen concurs and suggests other sports are getting younger, as well.

“I don’t think it is only in F1, I think it is in football and other sports,” the Dutchman said. “You get prepared in a very professional way and you can see that not only in the racing world but in football, for example, they get scouted and go to big clubs from a very young age.

“From a very young age you are already a proper professional. You are working for your goal. Being involved in simulator work from a young age, you are working inside a racing team already.”

Verstappen is likely to hold his record for a long time. The FIA, motorsport’s ruling body, have mandated that, beginning next year, drivers must be at least 18 to race in F1, and also have called for more racing in lower divisions before a driver can gain the “super license” needed to drive in F1.

The FIA said in a statement when announcing the move at the end of last year: “The driver must be judged by the FIA to have consistently demonstrated outstanding ability in single-seater formula cars,” with the aim being to ensure drivers are more experienced, with Verstappen, having only done one full season of racing before he joined Toro Rosso.

Verstappen came in for criticism for his driving in May in Monaco when he collided with Romain Grosjean, and Felipe Nasr, who had a more traditional route to F1, was critical of the Dutchman’s place in F1 at the time.

The Brazilian, who competed in GP2 for three seasons before joing Sauber, told Globo: “The accident is proof of his inexperience. I had an excellent education and the time spent in each category was essential to be able to debut well in F1.

“I learned a lot at Williams (as test driver) last year and entered F1 at the right age. I could not imagine myself in Formula 1 even at 20, considering all that I learned in these last few seasons.”

But Verstappen’s results have impressed, with fourth-place finishes in Hungary and the United States the standouts, and Tost believes the rule change is a mistake.

“I personally don’t think this makes sense because if young drivers can start to race in single-seaters aged 15 or 16 years old, then earlier or later it was quite clear that one of these drivers will be in a position to come into Formula One,” he said.

“I’m more than happy that Red Bull decided to bring Max into Formula One because, as we all can see, he is showing a fantastic performance and, up to now, he has made less mistakes than other much more experienced drivers.”

Mark Webber, who retired from F1 in 2013, made his debut in F1 in 2002 with Minardi at the age of 25.

The Australian, an ambassador at this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, agrees with Tost that academies are producing F1-ready drivers at earlier ages, but believes that the design of modern cars and simulators also allow it to happen.

“We now have all these Formula One simulators which, obviously, in my day we didn’t have those,” he said. “You had to go and learn where the fast time was yourself. You only had one day to see if you can do it and hang on to these cars and really you have no reference point.

“The youngsters are now more than capable of doing the job. The physical demands of the sport have decreased. The lap times of the cars are now a little slower and I think that contributes, as well, but in fairness to them, they are coming in and getting the job done.”

While Tost says it is driving ability that got Sainz and Verstappen into the car, he believes a more youthful look to F1 is important in trying to bring younger fans into the sport.

With worldwide TV audiences having fallen in 2014, F1 appears to need energising and Tost suggested Toro Rosso’s two youngsters can help.

“Two such high-skilled, and good-looking drivers, that is what people want to see,” he said. “Especially the young fans because there is a very high identification. If you look outside today [at Suzuka] many Japanese young people went to our drivers and requested autographs.

“Of course, they still have their older drivers but for the younger generation I think it is refreshing to see coming in such young and fast guys, and I think they will become the stars of the future.”