AlphaTauri drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda have paid tribute to team principal Franz Tost ahead of his final race at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this weekend.
Tost is being replaced as team principal by Laurent Mekies — joining from Ferrari — while AlphaTauri also has a new CEO in place in the form of Peter Bayer. Tost has led AlphaTauri since the former Minardi team was first purchased by Red Bull and named Toro Rosso back in 2006, and the experienced Ricciardo is working with him for a second spell.
“This will be Franz’s last race with the team, which is quite something as he’s been there since Day 1,” Ricciardo said. “When I visited the factory for the first time earlier this year, plenty had changed since I last raced for them, but Franz has been a constant presence. It’s always been a pleasure to work with him, and you have to admire his dedication and will to win, which is as strong today as it was when I first started with the team back in 2012.”
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1388]
While Ricciardo only returned to AlphaTauri in July, teammate Tsunoda has spent the past three years with the team since making his debut in 2021, and the Japanese driver praised the impact that Tost has had on his career.
“Franz Tost has been the only F1 team boss I’ve worked with,” Tsunoda said. “I feel I’ve been fighting for him this year, and I really want to beat Williams for him in his last race as team principal. I appreciate what he has done. Without him, I wouldn’t be racing here, and without his advice, I wouldn’t have made as much progress as I have.
“Hopefully, we can finish on a good note, end the season the way we want, and be able to put a smile on his face.”
Tsunoda is hoping a set of upgrades at the final race will give AlphaTauri the best chance of overturning the seven-point deficit to Williams in the fight for seventh in the constructors’ standings.
“I feel positive about it and have good memories from Yas Marina, where I finished fourth a couple of years ago. We also have quite a few upgrades coming here, which should help us for the final race — as well as being useful for next year — so it will be important to see what effect they have. Although we didn’t score points in Vegas, neither did Williams, so our fight in the constructors’ championship is still on, with the seven-point gap unchanged.
“I think putting everything together all week, extracting all the performance from the car and maximizing any opportunity will be crucial. Qualifying will be very important because even with the latest track layout, overtaking isn’t easy. Hopefully, the car will perform well, and the warm conditions mean we won’t have the tire warm-up problem that affected us so badly in Las Vegas.”