31. Franz Tost

Franz Tost (born 20 January 1956 in Trins, Austria) is an Austrian former racing driver and current Scuderia AlphaTauri Formula One team principal.

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As a young lad, Franz Tost’s big hero was fellow countryman Jochen Rindt: his bedroom walls were covered with posters of the Austrian ace, and when it was dissertation time at school, Franz’s classmates would all groan, as they knew what was coming – another bloody eulogy to Rindt.

Inevitably, Tost found himself behind the wheel, racing a Formula Ford. He was quick enough to win the 1983 Austrian FF Championship but felt he would not make it to the top as a driver, so a degree in Sports Management from Innsbruck University was next on the agenda. This led to a job at the Walter Lechner Racing School on the Zeltweg circuit.

From there, Tost moved to a team management role with EUFRA Racing and at the end of 1993, he was taken on as team manager to Willi Weber’s Formula 3 team. He first crossed paths with Ralf Schumacher, and Weber asked Tost to accompany the youngster to Japan. The relationship continued when Ralf entered Formula 1, driving for Jordan and Williams.

That led to Tost being appointed Operations Manager with BMW’s Formula 1 programme. Then in 2005, he was appointed Team Principal with the newly formed Scuderia Toro Rosso. To this day, Franz has been at the helm of our team, and today, he continues to steer it in the new Scuderia AlphaTauri era with the same enthusiasm as always.

He retained the role of team principal when Toro Rosso was re-christened as AlphaTauri at the beginning of the 2020 season. Tost is one of the longest-serving Formula One team principals.

Tost is often described as hard-working and professional. He is straightforward and not shy about sharing his opinion.