Franz Tost nurtured a host of driving talents across almost two decades as a Formula 1 team principal, meaning he is well placed to comment on the sport’s latest crop of youngsters – which includes Mercedes protege Kimi Antonelli.
Tost served as Toro Rosso’s team boss (later AlphaTauri) from their maiden 2006 season through to 2023, working with the likes of future Grand Prix winner Daniel Ricciardo and future world champions Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen.
While there will be at least two other rookie drivers on the grid next year in Ollie Bearman (Haas) and Jack Doohan (Alpine), Antonelli is the youngest at just 18 years old – comparable to Vettel and Verstappen’s ages when they debuted.
Tost was present in the paddock at the recent Italian Grand Prix when Mercedes announced Antonelli as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement for 2025, and the Austrian offered some words of encouragement to the F1 newcomer.
“The speed is there – you can see it,” Tost told F1.com, having started out as a driver himself and won the Austrian Formula Ford championship back in 1983.
“It’s always a little bit difficult for a young driver to come into a works team, especially to a team like Mercedes, because there you are really focused [on], but I’m sure that Toto [Wolff, Mercedes boss] and his team will prepare him in the best possible way for the next season.
“From the driving [side], I think it’s absolutely no problem for him. He’s fast, he’s high skilled and he will show a good performance.”
Using his vast experience to preview the challenges Antonelli will face as an F1 rookie, Tost reckons the biggest test is set to come when he is out of the cockpit.
“The question is from the mental side, because as a young driver in F1 you have to work together with so many different parties,” he added. “The technical side, the chassis engineer, the engine engineer, the aero engineer, all the data engineers, and that means there are a lot of questions coming up.
“You also have to do the marketing work, you have to do the press work, so it’s a lot for a young driver. The teams always must be careful with young drivers not to overload them, so that on Sunday, when the red lights go out, they are not tired.”
Asked what advice he would offer Antonelli, Tost signed off with a simple message: “Just to look forward to being an F1 driver, be focused, and do the job!”
Antonelli, who sits sixth in this year’s F2 standings ahead of the final two rounds, having won two races, will slot in alongside George Russell at the Silver Arrows.
