In an interview with the media yesterday, Toro Rosso Team Principal Franz Tost feels Jean-Eric Vergne has made a “lot of progress” this season, the team boss concedes he is in need of a big result.
Vergne has already spoken of the fact that he has suffered too many retirements this season, failing to reach the chequered flag in five out of 11 grand prix. In those races he has finished, he has scored more often than not although his best results have been two P8s, Australia and Canada.
In his interview yesterday, Tost says his driver has been doing a “good job” this season, he feels the Frenchman needs a big result to boost his confidence. Tost said the following:-
‘He made a lot of progress during the winter months so he is much more [mentally] stable this year, He is doing a good job. Unfortunately he has had a lot of reliability issues with his car, but from the driving point of view he is fast, skilled, and I just hope he gets a really good result.’
It would seem from what Tost has said that he is happy with the improvement in Vergne this season so far. Last season, it was clear that Vergne was extremely disappointed to have lost the opportunity to be promoted to the Red Bull team after losing out to his former team- mate Daniel Ricciardo.
As he rightly points out, Vergne has suffered unreliability issues more than his team mate Daniil Kvyat this season so far, which hasn’t helped him deliver on the track through no fault of his own. But it would suggest that Tost is happy with him and his driving at the moment, but wishes him to get a good result from the car throughout the remainder of the season ahead.
Further on in his interview, Tost believes that the unreliability that Vergne has suffered during the season has cost him the chance to pick up points for himself and also for the team too. Tost in his interview provides the Monaco Grand Prix as a example of this:-
‘Monaco [where Vergne ran as high as sixth before an unsafe release and ignition problems] would have been the kick to give him self-confidence to score a lot of points, and then everything becomes much easier. You need the results because this is the confirmation. Otherwise it’s just talk, philosophy.’
Even though it would appear that Vergne had the speed and the car behind him at races such as the Monaco Grand Prix, it would seem to suggest that Tost believes that if he managed to keep running, he would have scored points for the team and would have helped his motivation and confidence further.
As Tost points out, it is okay to say that this could have been the case but Vergne will be judged on his performances on the track in order to retain his seat for next year. At the moment, through no fault of his own Vergne has not been able to deliver on the track unlike Kvyat. But when he has been able to, Vergne has delivered and picked up some points for the team.
I have stated a few times that if Vergne cannot perform where it matters on the track, his future will be shaky. And I stand by that, even if it is through reliability issues that he hasn’t been able to perform for the Toro Rosso team. But all that Vergne can do is make sure that if he is a position to deliver, that he does.
Otherwise if he doesn’t either through his own fault or not, he could be out of Formula One at the end of the season. And even though many pundits and fans expect Vergne to be out at the end of the year, it would be a shame if he went out of the sport in this way, but what will be, will be. Vergne now needs to push with all that he can if he wants to stay in Formula One in 2015 and the time is now.
