Franz Tost: Vergne’s seat safe for 2014

Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost has taken the pressure off Jean-Eric Vergne by confirming that the Frenchman will have a seat at the team next year.

Vergne dropped out of consideration for a Red Bull seat some weeks ago as Daniel Ricciardo became the man most likely to be promoted to the senior team. In recenet races Ricciardo has been clearly ahaead most of the time.

“I’m convinced that Jean-Eric Vergne will race next year for Toro Rosso,” said Tost today. “We must not forget that Jean-Eric came later into Formula One [than Ricciardo], and why Red Bull Racing is thinking about racing with Daniel Ricciardo next year, it’s simply because he is more experienced. He showed very good performance in the first half of the season but Jean-Eric Vergne is quite close to him. It’s not that Jean-Eric is out of the team. As far as I’m thinking, next year he is with Toro Rosso.”

Regarding the possibility of Ricciardo going to Red Bull, Tost said: “It’s not decided yet from Red Bull but we must not forget Dietrich Mateschitz and Red Bull bought Minardi in those days to give young drivers from the Red Bull driver pool a chance to come into Formula One.

“Toro Rosso is the team to educate young drivers and I see it as positive because it shows that a) drivers are skilled and b) that the team has done so far a good job – and therefore if they choose Daniel I am quite happy with this decision.”