Verstappen rivals told to 'give back their licences' after complete annihilation

Former AlphaTauri Team Principal Franz Tost has been a key figurein bringing new talent into Formula 1, with one of those being MaxVerstappen. The Austrian, who played a role in scouting talent forthe Red Bull Junior Team along with Helmut Marko, recalls how hefirst found out about Verstappen during his Formula 3 season. "Iremember Max at the Norisring [circuit in Germany] at 16 years old.It was wet and he was one and a half to two seconds faster thananyone else," he told BBC . "I said all other drivers should giveback their licences, the only driver in this field is MaxVerstappen." Tost: Normally drivers need 100-150km, not VerstappenVerstappen would eventually go on to be signed for Red Bull withToro Rosso, after the team offered a fast-track seat to F1 overrival bidders Mercedes. When the Dutchman was just 17 years-old hemade his F1 practice debut with Toro Rosso at the 2014 JapaneseGrand Prix. Tost was impressed with his quickly he adapted to theperformance of the tricky hybrid F1 cars. "During his first test Iwas really impressed how fast he adapted to the speed and brakes…normally drivers need 100-150km to get used to the enormous powerwhich an F1 car has under accelerating and under braking. But fromthe first lap onwards he was familiar with everything," said Tost."We decided he would do FP1 in Suzuka [at the 2014 Japanese GrandPrix] and journalists said: 'You are totally crazy… Suzuka is oneof the most dangerous tracks; how can you start him in FP1? He hasto be prepared.' "I said: 'Don't talk so much, let's discuss infive years, then we will see who was right - you or me?' It didn'ttake five years - immediately, from the first year."