Amid rumours that Speed was about to be given the boot in favour of Sebastien Vettel at the French Grand Prix, Toro Rosso have publicly announced their support for Scott Speed. Team Principal Franz Tost said that the team’s main focus was on the technical pacakage and that at this time, they were not thinking of changing the current driver line-up.
“Up to now, nothing in this way is being discussed or planned,” Tost began. “Currently, we can’t complain about the drivers. We first need to provide the drivers with a proper car which is reliable and this is not the case because on Saturday, we failed with gearbox and hydraulic problems.
“And apart from this, Scott has done quite a good job in Spain and from our point of view, there’s no reason to discuss replacing him.”
Speed was 10th fastest in Barcelona at the weekend, but had to start at the back of the grid after a transmission failure. On the first lap, he managed to get up to 14th place before a puncture on lap 9 ended his race prematurely.
Perhaps part of the reason why Toro Rosso are publicly backing Speed is that there are potential problems with Vettel’s contract – the young driver is a Red Bull driver however he is currently contracted out to BMW and there is a possibility of a legal wrangle in the near future.
