Dec.30 (GMM) Franz Tost has added his own denial to speculation Toro Rosso might pair confirmed driver Sebastien Buemi with Ralf Schumacher in 2010.
Schumacher, 34, has this week been back in the F1 headlines, revealing an offer from one of F1’s new teams that he turned down.
The winner of 6 grands prix, who lost his Toyota seat in 2007 and now drives in the German touring car series DTM, said he would happily accept a better offer, leading to the link with Toro Rosso.
He knows team boss Tost well not only from their days at BMW-Williams, but from when Tost managed the German’s formative career in Japan.
Austrian Tost, 53, was also employed by Ralf’s former manager Willi Weber to look after the driver when he entered F1 with Jordan in 1997, and subsequently switched to Williams in 1999.
German reports also said Ralf is friends with Toro Rosso’s team boss Dietrich Mateschitz, who also lives in Salzburg, Austria.
But Auto Motor und Sport on Wednesday quotes Tost as saying: “I know nothing about it. It’s not true and that’s that. As far as I am concerned, it’s nonsense.”
Former F1 team owner and boss Eddie Jordan, however – who gave Schumacher his grand prix debut in 1997 – is still a fan of the German.
“I would sign Ralf Schumacher immediately,” he is quoted as saying. “In formula one he was always underestimated.”
