AlphaTauri boss Franz Tost at F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix: “I don’t trust my engineers anymore”
AlphaTauri were perhaps the biggest strugglers with F1’s new aerodynamic⛦ rules last season, finishing ninth in the constructors’ championship after managing sixth the year before.
Red Bul😼l have been forced to deny reports that they were looking to sell their sister team, after an underwhelming year.
“The engineers tell me we made some good progress but I don’t trust them anymore,” Tost said at the 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
“I just wa🐬nt to see the lap t꧂ime because this is the only thing that counts.
“During the winter months they told𒁏 me: ‘The car is fantastic, we made big progress!’
“The🌳n we came to Bahrain and we are nowhere. What should I say?”
AlphaTauri we💮re ninth-fastest in qualifying in Ba🦋hrain but would have been slowest had McLaren’s Lando Norris not suffered problems.
Tost was grilled about his comments about hဣis own engineers but bit back: “I don’t care about that, I just want to see a fast car whether tough or not. I simply don’t care.”
Tost explained the problems with the AT04: “There’s not enough downforce. Therefo💦re the car is unstable und🧔er braking and overheats the rear tyres.
“Washing out at the apex, then traction. Ev🌠erything that you need to do a good lap time.
“Here in Je🦂ddah the chara🎃cteristic of the race track is completely different and both drivers are not satisfied with the car but satisfied that the car feels better than in Bahrain.
“Still have some understeer problems that we have to get rid of and the res♚t we will se💎e.”
Tost promised minor upgrades at each of the next few races but warned: “The question is now, do we go in thඣe right direction?
“As I mentioned before, during the winter months we saw that, at least o🌞n the paper and on th♔e computer, we made big progress in comparison to last year’s car.
“But all these figures nowadays, as 🌳I mentioned bඣefore, I don’t trust them now.
“I want to see now with the next steps that we go in the right directi🌞on, that we can improve the perforඣmance of the car, that we are able to do this and this is a specialism work on the floor, brake ducts, and all the other aerodynamic parts.
“I thi🍬nk now with all the knowledge we have after Bahrain test and after the Bahrain race, the engineers should be in a position to sort it out and come up with new parts which improve the p♔erformance of the car.”
James was a sports journaཧlist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to ♐F1.
