Tost insists "no chance" to compete in F1 with "two kids"

AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost has backed the team's driver model by insisting there is "no chance" to compete in F1 with "two kids".

The Faenza-based team has been the proving ground for Red Bull juniors in the sport since taking over from Minardi in 2006 and becoming Toro Rosso, with both seats being used as educational-like spots on the grid.

Yet in recent years, the team has retained the services of experienced drivers in Daniil Kvyat and has seen Pierre Gasly develop into a team leader since returning from Red Bull.

Rookie Yuki Tsunoda struggled alongside the Frenchman last season, with Tost explaining, in an end-of-season interview including GPFans, how filling both seats with young drivers could prove costly in modern-day F1.

"Nowadays, in Formula 1, [if you] drive [with] two inexperienced drivers you have a really big challenge and the constructors' championship, you will immediately be in the back.

"There's no chance with two kids to be in the midfield [or at] the front because the field is far too competitive, it's too strong.

"If you look to the qualifying times, it's hundredths of a second. I think in Saudi Arabia, Pierre was 0.087secs behind [Charles] Leclerc, which is 78 centimetres or whatever, there were two positions.

"Then if you have a young driver, an inexperienced one, we are talking about tenths, not about thousandths.

"I think that with the combination of one experienced driver, and then if there's a very high skilled young driver, AlphaTauri is always in a position and ready to educate the young driver."

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