Formula One news

Toro Rosso's Tost explains what really happened with Speed

At Scuderia Toro Rosso it hasn't been particularly calm lately. Scott Speed was often found in the media saying he was unhappy with the performance of his car and the lack of support from his team bosses. In the end he got sacked and he will be replaced this weekend by Red Bull talent Sebastian Vettel.

After the European Grand Prix Scott Speed said he was grabbed by Toro Rosso team boss Franz Tost in his neck. He told SpeedTV: "There were a couple of people who saw. He grabbed me right below the neck, on my fireproof T-shirt, and jerked me back and forth, let go, and then pushed me into the wall behind where the cars are."

But Franz Tost denies it was all such a big drama as Speed said. Tozt explained to Italian magazine Autosprint: "It's nothing like Scott said. After he crashed out of the European Grand Prix he came to me at the pitwall and asked why the team underperformed. He believed the team did a terrible job on his pitstop and that it all took too long. I asked him why he went off, and then I tried to explain him that he was actually himself the cause of this chaos in the pitlane but he wouldn't listen. He just kept on asking why it took so long to change his tyres.

"The reason why his pitstop took that long was because he overtook his team-mate Liuzzi in his in lap in the third and last sector on track. Our computers didn't notice that on such a short notice that he overtook Liuzzi by cutting the chicane even. So while the team expected Liuzzi in the pitlane first the team was surprised to see Speed arriving. That's the reason why I got upset with him. I have had it with his attitude and that he did not want to listen to actually what went really wrong. So that is why I grabbed him by the shoulder when he walked away. I said: 'While I talk to you you can not leave just like this.' I never grabbed him by the neck. And once I calmed down I even apologized to him."

After the incident Speed turned up at Toro Rosso's test session at Mugello, but on Tuesday the team announced that Speed would be replaced by Sebastian Vettel.

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