Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost has labelled his outfit a ‘rookie training school’ in an attempt to explain the teams all new line-up for 2012.
The Italian team announced on Wednesday that it would replace Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi in favour of Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne.
Explaining the reasoning behind the shock decision, Tost said neither Alguersuari nor Buemi met the teams ‘rookie ethos’.
“Sebastien [Buemi] has been with us for three seasons and Jaime [Alguersuari] for two and a half,” he said. “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.”
The 55-year-old went on to explain that naturally a good driver would graduate from Toro Rosso before moving onto sister team Red Bull, but given the current lack of available seats at the championship winning team, the duo’s fate had already been decided.
“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,” he added. “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.”
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