F1 | Tost: The 2020 Performance of AlphaTauri exceeds '08 achievements with Toro Rosso
Franz Tost claims that Alpha Tauri's 2020 season exceeded Sebastian Vettel's accomplishments in 2008, marking the best year in the history of the Formula 1 team.
AlphaTauri recorded just the second win in its 15-year history after the rebranding of the Toro Rosso team when Pierre Gasly won a shock victory at the Italian Grand Prix.
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It was the highlight of the season that especially featured a range of impressive displays from Gasly, while team-mate Daniil Kvyat came close to Imola's podium finish.
In the constructor's championship, the team finished the year seventh as it posted its highest total points to date, coming just 24 points short of Ferrari.
The triumph of Gasly led to comparisons to the success of Toro Rosso in 2008, where future four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel raced for the team and became Monza's youngest winner in F1 history.
But team principal Franz Tost, who oversaw Toro Rosso's breakthrough year with Vettel before his transfer to Red Bull, felt the successes of 2020 exceeded what the team did in 2008.
The team principal told Autosport.com, "2008, yes it was a fantastic victory with Sebastian in Monza, but we didn't have so many good finishes like this year, It wasn't only the victory in Monza. There were many other good races that we had with the fourth place at Imola, the fifth place in Portimao. We were sixth in Bahrain and in Germany, seventh in Austria, Great Britain and Mugello. We didn't have only one exciting race. We had a lot of very good race results, and this put us plenty ahead of 2008."
Tost also hailed the way Faenza's AlphaTauri squad had come together by 2020, as well as Gasly's own move up during the season in form.
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To continue, "In Faenza, the design team, production, worked really good and are coming together,We are getting stronger and stronger in every aspect from the processes, but also from the discipline side and also the track operations worked well. People are coming more and want to get up.We have two really good drivers as well. Pierre improved a lot. He has reached a real high level now. And therefore, we could be so successful. The car, I must say, worked from the very beginning onwards. The aerodynamic upgrades fortunately brought an advantage and put us forwards. These points together came up to a nice clear picture with success."
Gasly's first full year back at AlphaTauri saw him score close to three-quarters of the team's points in the driver's championship en route to 10th place.
Throughout the season, the Frenchman felt satisfied with how successful he had been, earning points in all but three races he finished last year.
The French driver, Pierre Gasly tells Autosport.com, "It's fair to say I'm performing better, I'm a better driver than I was before, This was also a target for myself, to be more consistent. Obviously you never get the ideal scenario, the ideal balance, the ideal race, strategy, tyre deg, whatever. But just try to be better at reacting to all these factors, and to get a more consistent performance through the season. I'm really happy about it, because I think we have had many top 10 finishes, many Q3s as well. In terms of work with the team, I feel like we are really understanding each other well. We've been really consistently, performing and maximising the performance with the car we have. This was a clear target we set with the team and myself and the people around me to achieve this season."
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