Tost: Verstappen, Sainz can emulate Vettel

Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost believes Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz can follow into the footsteps of ex-Red Bull protégé Sebastian Vettel.

Both drivers made a strong impression during their maiden campaign with the small Italian outfit last year, amassing more than double the amount of points Daniil Kvyat and Jean-Eric Vergne had scored in 2014.

Tost, who already was in charge when Vettel joined Toro Rosso in mid-2007, notices similarities between the four-time world champion and the latest generation of Red Bull talents.

“Vettel, as well as Carlos and Max, they have the necessary patience and attitude and motivation and commitment to be in F1, and they are all hard workers,” the Austrian said in an interview with Motorsport.com.

“Everything has impressed me from them: the driving, the understanding of the car from the technical side, the cooperation with the engineers.

“But also the work with the media and marketing events and to get more and more used to all this. People like to work with them, and we are more than happy to have them in our team.”

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Toro Rosso’s 2015 all-rookie line-up initially raised a few eyebrows, especially after the Faenza-based squad elected not to retain the more experienced Vergne to chaperon F3 graduate Verstappen.

But Tost says the duo’s eventual achievements are a testament to Red Bull’s sound driver policy.

“I must say that [they were] absolutely right to choose these drivers, because you can see that they learned from race to race.

“They have reached quite a good level, and therefore I'm convinced that they will have a successful future.”

2016 will see Verstappen and Sainz return for a second year at Toro Rosso. Having used Renault power last season, they will switch to year-old Ferrari engines for their sophomore campaign.

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