Toro Rosso: Verstappen Exults, Sainz Cannot Digest
Surprising fourth place in the Hungarian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen delivered Toro Rosso their best race result in seven years. In the shadow of his teammate, Carlos Sainz accepted neither his retirement nor his team's strategy.
The Hungarian Grand Prix and its multiple twists and turns smiled upon Max Verstappen: the young Toro Rosso driver managed to finish just off the podium. After the race, the Dutchman could hardly believe it: « Fourth, it’s incredible! What an excellent result, I have no words! I really didn’t expect it after a really mediocre start. However, I managed to escape the chaos and during my second stint everything went well, I felt good in the car and the guys behind me weren’t catching up. »
Max Verstappen almost lost everything during the second part of the Grand Prix: When the race restarted after the Safety Car, a lot happened, with cars colliding in front of me… I also slightly damaged my front wing, and I received a drive-through penalty. So with only a few laps remaining, I asked my engineer what position we were in, and when he told me P4, I just couldn’t believe it! I am very, very happy today.
Now trailing behind his teammate in the driver’s standings, Carlos Sainz still seemed unable to come to terms with a retirement that, for the third time this season, deprived him of scoring points. He even questions his team’s strategic choices in the Spanish press: « I am angry because I was having an excellent race until my retirement! (…) The team hasn’t explained why they didn’t call me into the pits first when I was ahead of Max. You can imagine my anger! So I pitted after everyone else, which made me lose positions, while Max moved up in the standings. I do not understand this decision ».
Franz Tost, the director of Toro Rosso, experienced this weekend the best result for his team since 2008 and a fourth place by Sebastian Vettel at the Brazilian Grand Prix. He is pleased to see the competitiveness of his chassis finally rewarded: “We have now closed the gap with our direct competitors and I believe we are still in a position to achieve our goal, which is to finish the season in fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship.”
Toro Rosso is currently the 7th best team in the world championship, four points behind Lotus and eight behind Force India.
