Tost hits AlphaTauri with 'too stupid' jibe as parting shot

Outgoing Team Principal Franz Tost has hit out at AlphaTauri for being "too stupid to choose the correct strategy" after the team failed to secure seventh in the Constructors' Championship.

Yuki Tsunoda managed to qualify in sixth and became the first Japanese driver to lead a race since Takuma Sato in 2003 in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after AlphaTauri gambled on a one-stop strategy.

The strategy proved to be difficult for Tsunoda to pull off, owing to the two-stopping Fernando Alonso and coming under threat from Lewis Hamilton on the final lap.

Tsunoda needed at least sixth to secure the place ahead of Williams in the Constructors' battle, which fell flat when he failed to overtake Oscar Piastri and Alonso passed which relegated him to eighth.

Tost, who departs F1 after 18 years at the helm of AlphaTauri, criticised his team for its risky strategy.

“I’m pissed because we were too stupid to choose a correct strategy and because I had a lot of discussions on the pit wall because I said: 'Bring Yuki in, we’re closed slowly,” he told Sky Deutschland.

“I was told that it would work out. It’s pure arithmetic. I actually realised straight away that it probably wouldn’t work out."

Tost: A seventh place was 100% realistic

Tost felt that the team of strategists failed to deliver a strategy that would secure the important place, believing that it was possible for Tsunoda to finish ahead of Alonso.

“I’ll say now: A seventh place was 100 percent realistic for Yuki," explained Tost.

"Sixth, not so much, because Perez was behind us in qualifying and was simply faster [during the race].

“We messed it up because the technicians who sit in front of the computer for hours couldn’t figure out a strategy that would ultimately work.”