Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsToro Rosso

Tost wants Renault to buy Toro Rosso

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Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost would like to see Renault take over the sister Red Bull team.

Renault Sport F1 managing director Cyril Abiteboul has previously admitted Renault is looking in to the possibility of increasing its F1 presence by acquiring a team, but warned quitting the sport altogether is also an option. Sat alongside Abiteboul and Red Bull team principal Christian Horner in Malaysia, Tost admitted a move to become a factory team would be a good move for Toro Rosso.

“I think this would be a fantastic opportunity for Toro Rosso to make the next step forward, because the team wants to be established in the future within the first five in the constructors’ championship,” Tost said.

“To be part of a manufacturer, to work together with a manufacturer, to be owned by a manufacturer would be exactly this step forward which the team needs to be established in the first five.”

In response to Tost’s quotes, Abiteboul says Renault needs to focus on its power unit for now after a difficult start to 2015.

“I think the first priority is to get the engine right,” Abiteboul said. “We’ve seen in Melbourne that it was not really the start of season that we were expecting, both on track and off track, so before starting really to think about doing a car I think we need to get the engine under control, so that’s the priority for the time being.

“Then if we can do that we’ll have to review the situation from a marketing and strategic perspective and see if there is anything better to do than we are doing currently, from more of Formula One to less of Formula One, but for the time being we are focused on what we are doing.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.