Scuderia Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost insists that the role of his team is to train rookies, and says Sebastian Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari have both had their chance.
The decision to replace both drivers with Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne has caused some surprise in F1 circles, but Tost says that it is a logical one.
“Our driver line-up had been under discussion for a long time as it is obviously a vital component of the team’s performance,” said Tost in an interview issued by the team. “The final decision was taken in a meeting at Red Bull headquarters in Austria on 13 December 2011.
“We do not wish to discuss our driver contracts, but let’s just say that it is their performance level in the car that is the deciding factor and if they do a good job, this will help their cause in terms of how long they stay with us.”
Regarding the departures of Buemi and Alguersuari, Tost said: “Sebastien has been with us for three seasons and Jaime for two and a half. Both of them worked hard for the team, doing their very best and achieving some good results.
“However, Scuderia Toro Rosso’s ethos has always been that of the ‘rookie training school’ and with over two seasons under your belt, you are no longer a rookie. In an ideal world, drivers would move from Scuderia Toro Rosso to Red Bull Racing, but there are no vacancies with our sister team right now. It might be seen as a harsh decision, but Formula 1 is a tough environment, and Toro Rosso has always been very clear about the principles behind its driver choice.”
Tost denied that it was frustrating to have to take rookie drivers.
“No, it’s not frustrating, in fact quite the opposite. It is a very interesting experience for everyone in the team to work with young drivers and it means you can educate them the way you want. Everyone, from the race engineers to the communications people can try and give the new drivers good habits, which they can use for the rest of their career.”
He said that despite his experience, Ricciardo won’t be regarded as the number one driver.
“No, although given that he has some actual F1 racing experience, it would be natural for him to settle into the job more quickly. However, Jean-Eric has shown he learns rapidly so I expect him to be on the pace quite soon. It will be important for the team to ensure we give them as many kilometres as possible in winter testing.
“It is always good to know who your drivers are as early as possible. For one thing, weeks of speculation are usually disruptive to the work of a team. Although we know our two new drivers quite well, it also means they can already start working with the engineers, assimilating information and even having some input into minor details regarding the new car. It also means I can be sure they are taking their winter fitness training very seriously!”
Adam Cooper F1 
That’s all well and good Franz Tost, but perhaps it might have been a good idea to tell Alguersuari and Buemi of the “rookie training school” ethos as their rapidly expiring time limit as rookie’s well in advance so both could plan for the future!
My personal opinion is that all this was driven by Mr Red Bull himself, Dietrich Mateschitz. Christian Horner said recently it’s Mateschitz who has final say on drivers for Red Bull Racing, gotta presume he does the same for Toro Rosso.
The item came up at a meeting, he swings the axe.
“It is always good to know who your drivers are as early as possible.”
Then why didn’t he tell the drivers earlier when they would have had a better chance of a seat?
If STR is a training school, and JA and SB are sufficiently trained, they should have noticed this prior to mid-December. The drivers were simply dumped for marketing reasons and the statements from Franz Tost are plain hypocrisy.
It seems that Tost and Marko wanted to keep both Buemi and Alguersuari by STR in 2012. Keeping the 8th place in constructors in 2012 will be very difficult, as Williams-Renault and Caterham will sure bounce back. I think there will only be Marussia and HRT behind Toro Rosso in 2012. For Mateschitz, Toro Rosso is only a marketing tool. It’s a shame acting like this. Buemi was the best overtaker and the second in winning places at start and suffered from technical problems during 4 of the last 5 races (wheel in Japan, motor in India, hydraulic in Abu Dhabi, hydraulic and rain set-up in Brazil).
But then we ask: but a rookie school for what? For dropping them off years later?
Tost has been doing this to his drivers for as long as he’s been with STR. He’ll wait and wait and wait before deciding on who has the seat, either leaving the outgoing driver with little or no options, or the incoming driver with little to no testing time.