Ex-Red Bull boss reveals race to decide Max Verstappen’s future

The former boss of Red Bull's junior Formula 1 team has revealed the race which decided Max Verstappen's future in the pinnacle of motorsport.

Franz Tost was the team principal of Toro Rosso (later AlphaTauri) for almost 20 years and was instrumental in bringing the now four-time champion to the ranks of the Red Bull F1 family.

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The F1 outfit now known as Racing Bulls was headed up by Tost between 2006 and 2023, assisting several impressive graduates from the junior programme who still compete on the F1 grid today.

The most famous to come from Red Bull's junior ranks is of course Verstappen who signed his first full-time contract in F1 with Toro Rosso ahead of the 2015 season. The Dutch racer went on to make his debut at the Australian GP, becoming the youngest driver to ever race in the sport.

10 years on, Verstappen has four drivers' titles under his belt and led Red Bull through another era of domination, contributing towards back-to-back constructors' championships in 2022 and 2023.

After a disappointing start to his 10th campaign with Christian Horner's outfit, rumours have begun to swirl that an exit from the Red Bull family or even F1 as a whole could be on the horizon. As Verstappen continues to struggle with his RB21, the man who championed his talent from the start revealed how he first knew the racing star was destined for greatness.

Franz Tost reveals pivotal Max Verstappen performance

Reflecting on the pivotal process which saw Verstappen make the step up to F1 at the tender age of 17, Tost revealed the exact moment he knew the Dutchman had what it took, citing comparisons to F1 legend Michael Schumacher.

Speaking on the Inside Line F1 Podcast, Tost revealed how he backed Verstappen for an F1 promotion despite being so young.

"I was pushing for this," he revealed.

"I knew Max from karting and from Formula 3 and the first time I met Max was at the Nurburgring I think it was 2012 or something like this with his father.

"I knew Jos [Verstappen] quite well because he was driving with Michael Schumacher together at Benetton and as I worked with management many times I knew Jos Verstappen and Dr Marko made negotiations with him. It was clear for all of us that Max is a real special driver.

"It was even more clear for us after the race in Germany at the Norisring, it was a wet race in Formula 3 and the lap times were around 58, 57 seconds and Max was one and a half seconds faster than the rest of the field.

"He was flying under wet conditions and this shows you that he is an extraordinarily good driver, this reminded me also of Michael Schumacher at the Salzburg Ring I think around '86, '87 something like this in Formula 4. It was also very wet and Michael was flying there, he was far ahead of the rest of the field.

"If there are such races in very difficult  conditions you can see who is able to drive a car, who is skilled to drive a car fast and who will have a good future."

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