Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost has denied suggestions that Red Bull's famous driver development programme has run out of steam.
"It is nonsense that the Red Bull Young Driver Programme is in crisis,” Tost told Motorsport.com this week. “Dr Helmut Marko does a fantastic job and we have good drivers."
The system has been hugely successful over the years in finding new drivers and nurturing their careers all the way to Formula 1. Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen are both graduates of the programme.
But Dr Marko has also been notoriously hard-nosed with ditching drivers including Vitantonio Liuzzi, Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Jean-Éric Vergne that didn't live up to his high standards in time.
“It is not the environment that determines who is successful and who is not, they do it themselves," Tost explained. "Their performance is the deciding factor
"We can be honest about that. We say, 'If you do not perform well enough, you are out.'”
Many other teams now operate similar young driver programmes, and as a result Red Bull appears to be running worryingly low on fresh talent. Daniel Ricciardo's sudden exit from Red Bull last year forced the senior team to promote Pierre Gasly from Toro Rosso earlier than planned.
It left Tost's squad scrambling for drivers of their own in 2019. Daniil Kvyat was eventually recalled to the team from which he had been dropped in 2017, while rookie driver Alexander Albon was a late signing after Nissan released him from a contract to race in the World Endurance Championship.
Not that this worries Tost. “There would only be a crisis if we had no drivers from our programme at Red Bull and Toro Rosso," he pointed out.
“But we have Max, who can win races and hopefully also the championship," he continued. "[Plus] the talented and fast Pierre, and two fantastic riders at Toro Rosso."
Tost denied that Kvyat and Albon were 'second best' drivers and a sign of the Red Bull programme running on empty, and insisted that they weren't merely stop-gap solutions until Dan Ticktum earned enough superlicence points to be eligible for a seat.
“If they continue to develop and become more mature - if they show that they can do better - then they can just come back. That’s no problem.
"We've been quite positively impressed from the first test onwards," Tost said of Albon, who hadn't even had a chance to test current F1 hardware until February.
"He is doing a really good job, and I must say if he continues like this, he will become a very successful F1 driver," adding he was particularly impressed by the Thai-British youngster's car control and technical feedback.
"He comes up with quite good feedback. It matches exactly with what Daniil, who is much more experienced, is saying."
Albon battled his way into the points for the first time in Bahrain by keeping out of trouble and managing his tyres in difficult condition.
"Alex is doing a fantastic job," Tost insisted.
Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
