Scuderia Toro Rosso F1 Team ©
In an interview with Autosport today, Max Verstappen has stated today that he feels that current driver Jean-Eric Vergne should be retained by the Toro Rosso team for next season.
Vergne initially lost his Toro Rosso seat in favour of Verstappen, before Sebastian Vettel’s decision to leave Red Bull for Ferrari created a new gap at STR, with Daniil Kvyat being promoted to fill Vettel’s place.
That put Vergne in contention to stay on after all even though Red Bull junior programme members Carlos Sainz Jr, Alex Lynn and Pierre Gasly are also contenders.
In his interview with Autosport today, when asked if he would prefer an experienced team-mate for his debut season, Verstappen stated the following:-
‘I think for the team it’s better to have an experienced driver. So I think in the end it would be better if Jean-Eric would stay. And, in the end, it’s also better for me because he has a lot of experience so he can help me to improve myself as well.
‘He is relaxed and he is a good guy. He’s friendly to me and I appreciate that a lot so hopefully we can work together next year.’
As I have stated previously in other articles on the subject, it would make sense if Vergne was retained by Toro Rosso for next season and many would agree with Verstappen that Vergne’s experience would help the team greatly and also will help him get to grips with Formula One too. It is clear that Verstappen rates Vergne very highly as a driver and also as person and would love the opportunity to work with him as team mates next season.
Further on in his interview, Verstappen says whatever the outcome at Toro Rosso, he hopes Vergne stays in F1. Verstappen added the following:-
‘I think he has great talent otherwise he would not even have been in F1. So yes, he deserves it.’
It is clear from what Verstappen has stated in his interview today that he believes that if Vergne wasn’t talented enough, he wouldn’t be in Formula One in the first place. And I would agree with him that Vergne deserves to be in Formula One, even if it’s with Toro Rosso or not.
But overall, it would seem that Verstappen would like Vergne to stay at Toro Rosso for 2015. But all we can do is wait and see if Verstappen and Vergne will have their wish come true and wait for an official announcement in the next few weeks.
