Franz Tost very happy with Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne

Although the 2012 season started successfully for the Toro Rosso outfit, it’s fair to say that since the opening two races their points tally has somewhat dwindled in comparison to other teams in the midfield. Whereas the likes of Williams and Sauber have gone on to take victories and score podium finishes, Toro Rosso have been fending off Caterham and even struggling to progress through to Q2 during Qualifying.

However, Toro Rosso’s team principal Franz Tost is not blaming his two rookie drivers for these uncompetitive results. Both Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne have shown sparkles of promise throughout the season, and Franz Tost has explained how he is very satisfied with their skill and speed..

“So far I must say that both of them are highly skilled and both of them, so far, have shown good performance.” Explained Franz Tost, “Daniel [Ricciardo] scored points in his first race for us in Melbourne, when he finished in P9 and Jean-Eric [Vergne] finished in Sepang in P8, which showed that there is a lot of potential. The progress that both are making is quite promising, so I have to say that so far we are satisfied.”

Toro Rosso scored points in the first two races of the season, with 9th and 8th at the Australian and Malaysian Grands Prix respectively. Since then, where other teams have progressed, Toro Rosso seem to have taken a step backwards in not scoring a single point since. However, Franz Tost is adamant this is not the case, and believes there has been examples of competitiveness throughout the season.

“We had possibilities, we had chances, but we didn’t seize them.” Said Franz Tost. “For example Daniel started from P6 in Bahrain and couldn’t profit from it, and Jean-Eric was in P7 ten laps before the checkered flag in Monaco but finished 12th. In Valencia Daniel was in a promising position where he could have easily finished in the points before some contact cut short his ambitions. So we have definitely not taken a step backwards but our competitors are working better. Maybe they [other teams] found a better solution but maybe also the development speed has not been high enough on our side.”

Last season saw Toro Rosso completely change their driving line-up, with Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari replaced by current drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne. Toro Rosso have become renowned for searching for the next Red Bull World Champion, after their illustrious discovery of the talent that is Sebastian Vettel in 2008. Franz Tost has already seen a sparkle from both Ricciardo and Vergne, and either could well become the next Red Bull sensation.

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