Ricciardo at Red Bull from 2014: a little too soon for Franz Tost
Franz Tost, the team principal of Toro Rosso, believes that while Daniel Ricciardo has all the qualities to become a future great driver, a move to Red Bull as early as 2014 could be premature.
The second Red Bull seat for 2014 has been the focus of much attention since the announcement of Mark Webber’s retirement last June. Among the candidates to succeed the Australian are Kimi Räikkönen, of course, but also Daniel Ricciardo, one of the drivers from the bull’s nursery.
The young resident of the Toro Rosso team apparently has the preference of the bosses of the parent team, like Christian Horner who again confirmed on the Formula One show on Canal + that he has an advantage over Jean-Eric Vergne in the minds of the decision-makers.
On the other hand, from Franz Tost’s perspective, the director of Toro Rosso, while he sees no reason not to trust the Perth native, caution would advise not to rush things too quickly: Personally, I would like to see him for another season in a maturation process at Toro Rosso. I mean, we are talking about Red Bull Racing, the team that has been champion for the last three years. Daniel has never stood on an F1 podium, he hasn’t won a race, because our car isn’t good enough. That’s the only negative aspect I see for him. Other than that, I think he will achieve great success in Formula 1.
The creation of the Red Bull program, benefiting from a full-scale junior team with Scuderia Toro Rosso, is supposed to involve the eventual promotion of the best young drivers. Already two men have been ejected from the race for a seat in the “A team,” Sébastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari, and promoting Daniel Ricciardo would be a way to maintain the interest of such an organization even if doubts about experience may persist. The comparison with Sebastian Vettel is nevertheless inevitable, and Franz Tost does not deviate from the rule: “The biggest difference between Vettel and Ricciardo was that Vettel came to Red Bull when it was not a winning team. They grew together. But Ricciardo must immediately be on the podium and fight for victories,” he explains before concluding: “Perhaps this chance [to race with RBR] came a year too early.”
