Verstappen’s Toro Rosso engineer confirms departure

Xevi Pujolar, who race-engineered Max Verstappen during his spell at Toro Rosso, has confirmed that he left the Red Bull junior team after the Russian Grand Prix.

The Spaniard took to his Twitter account to make the announcement official, thanking the Faenza-based outfit and saying it was “now time to get ready for the next challenge”.

The news of Pujolar’s departure came shortly after Verstappen was promoted to Red Bull with Daniil Kvyat returning to Toro Rosso. The Dutchman quickly replied with a message of his own on social media: “We did a great job together mate. You’ll come back stronger than ever.”

According to several reports, Pujolar, who previously worked at Jaguar, Hispania, and Williams, left the Italian squad in the wake of an argument with team principal Franz Tost at Sochi last weekend.

Toro Rosso had actually started reshuffling its structure ahead of the Russian GP by appointing former Manor F1 boss John Booth as director of racing.

I did really enjoy and feel really proud of the work I did with @ToroRossoSpy