Tost disputes Hamilton's claims that 'F1 not physical enough'

Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost has taken issue with Lewis Hamilton's claims that the modern F1 car is no longer the physical challenge for drivers it used to be.

Speaking In Montreal this week, Hamilton said that F1 should be "a man's sport" and that teenage drivers who arrive on the scene have it "quite easy".

Tost, who has mentored a considerable number of young drivers at Toro Rosso over the years strongly disagreed with Hamilton's view.

"In my opinion, the current level of the drivers from the fitness side is the highest I've ever seen in Formula 1," said the Austrian.

"You must not forget that we now have drivers who started motor sport when they were six or seven years old.

• Hamilton wants more physical F1 as 'youngsters have it quite easy'

"That means that when they come to Formula 1, they've already done 10 to 15 years of karting first and then the junior categories and I'm not talking about the Red Bull and Toro Rosso drivers."

Tost explained how driver preparation had evolved over the years and was virtually non-existent several decades ago.

"Our drivers have special physical training plans. They have their own coach, they have a nutrition plan.

"That means they are so well prepared that the driving itself is no longer so exciting for them and of course, you cannot compare this time with - let me say - twenty or thirty years ago when Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell or whoever collapsed after a race."

"They never saw a fitness centre from the inside and some of them were smoking as well and in former days, I remember that some cars did not finish the race and then they talked about gearbox problems...

"Hey, they were smoking beforehand and they were not fit enough to finish the race and then they put it in any gear so that the car stopped. They were not fit enough."

As far as Tost is concerned, physical preparation has had a direct positive impact on driving standards at the pinnacle of motorsport.

"This is the reality and nowadays we have really really good drivers in Formula One and we have a very high level and therefore you don't see accidents - which on one side is very good - from the entertaining point of view is boring," added Tost.

"Friends of mine say you don't even see a crash after the start in the first corner because they all manage to do it.

"It's because the driving level is very very high, I think the highest we've ever seen in Formula 1 and this we continue.

"But this is nothing to do only with Formula 1, this is in all the other sports as well, in skiing and so on, therefore I think we should be happy to see these drivers."

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff echoed Tost's comments, adding that the increasing speed of today's cars and dwindling lap times had actually increased the physical demands imposed on drivers.

"You can look at the lap times," said Wolff. "I think we have the quickest cars by now.

"We have changed the aerodynamic formula to take a few seconds off the cars and we are going faster than last year, so the levels of downforce are enormous and like Franz said, it's very right that the level of perfection has just increased enormously and you don't see these kind of mistakes any more.

"You could, artificially, make it much harder, take the power-assisted steering out, then you will have drivers like bodybuilders and they will struggle to finish races because it will be so tiring - that is easy.

"But it would be a step back in technology but maybe that is something we should consider in the future for the entertainment factor."

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