Franz Tost admits he was called ‘totally crazy’ for hiring driver for Toro Rosso in 2015

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AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost has admitted that he was told he was ‘totally crazy’ for hiring a young Max Verstappen back in 2015.

Tost was speaking to journalist Tom Clarkson on the Beyond The Grid Podcast.

After spending a long time in Formula 1, Tost will finally depart the sport at the end of the year.

It’s set to be a big winter of change at AlphaTauri with the name of the team likely to change.

They’ll still be lining up with Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo in the cars but under a new name and livery.

AlphaTauri – previously called Toro Rosso – has been Red Bull’s junior team in Formula 1 for some time.

They’ve developed several very quick drivers who can now be found across the grid.

Franz Tost has admitted that he was called crazy when he first hired Max Verstappen.

The Dutchman was still a teenager when he joined the team and didn’t even have a normal driver’s license.

It’s arguably the biggest success story of his career that he’s managed to bring through the 26-year-old who is now a three-time world champion.

Tost may be moving on after this weekend in Abu Dhabi, but his legacy will last much longer than that.

Tost called crazy for hiring Verstappen

Asked about the best drivers he’s worked with within the team, Tost said: “Then of course Max [Verstappen]. Max because of his unbelievable speed.

“When we brought him to Formula 1, I remember back some of your colleagues came to me and said you’re totally crazy, how can you take someone who doesn’t even have a driver’s license?

“And I said, I don’t want to discuss this with you now, come in five years and then we can discuss it because then I got tired of defending our decision.

“This unbelievable natural speed, you could see, sometimes in Formula 3, I remember back at this wet race at the Norisring, I thought Max was driving on a dry line because he was two seconds faster than the rest.

“This reminded me also of when Michael Schumacher won the Formula 4 race at the Salzburg Ring in similar conditions and he was also two, three seconds faster than the rest.

“And then this is important for me, I want to see what a driver is doing in our car.”

No one will consider Tost crazy now for putting his faith in Max Verstappen.

He won his first race on his debut for Red Bull after being promoted to the team halfway through the season and hasn’t looked back since.

It’s hard to see his domination of the sport dropping off any time soon given the car he has right now.

He’s already won 18 races this season and could add a record 19^th victory to his tally in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.