P1racenews AI automatic summary:
The retiring Franz Tost caused a stir earlier this year when, in typically blunt fashion, he claimed “I no longer trust me engineers”.
Tost has announced that he is stepping down as the team principal of AlphaTauri after leading the team for 18 years before the 2024 F1 season. His criticism of the AlphaTauri engineers after their failure to score a point in the season-opener in Bahrain showcased his forthright views. Tost explained that the engineers understood his words as he had previously expressed his dissatisfaction with the team’s lack of competitiveness. He made changes to the team, bringing in new people, and so far the upgrades brought this year have worked acceptably. AlphaTauri also replaced Nyck de Vries with Daniel Ricciardo and finished eighth in the F1 constructors’ championship. Tost described his leadership style as easygoing and emphasized the importance of following through with decisions made.
