Formula 1 BLOG

It is being reported that Scott Speed has been fired by Toro Rosso effective immediately. After all the press about team manager Franz Tost assaulting Scott after both Toro Rosso cars were out of the race this weekend it seems his services are no longer wanted.

Scott gives an interview on speedtv.com where he describes the assault in detail …

“He grabbed me from the front of my shirt, jerked me around, ripping my fire-suit a little bit, and pushed me against the wall. After that, my only response was to back up in the middle of the garage and ask him if he wanted to hit me in front of everyone else.”

It sounds like tempers were running pretty high at Toro Rosso. Never mind the fact that superstar Lewis Hamilton went off in exactly the same place.

Ah well, a little drama in the press is probably good for the sport. You know what they say… There is no such thing as BAD publicity.

A report on speedtv.com is claiming that Scott Speed was assaulted by Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost after the early departure of both of the teams’ cars in today’s European Grand Prix.

It would seem an intense discussion ensued between Speed and Franz Tost when Speed returned to the pits. When Scott turned and began to walk away from the confrontation, Tost made a grab for him which one witness described as an assault.

It’s pretty clear that Toro Rosso are unhappy with their drivers but obviously emotions were running very high after today’s problems. I think, given the number of cars and teams that had problems due to the sudden change in the weather, it might not be completely fair of the team to be blaming the drivers in this particular case.

What do you folks think? Did Scott make a serious mistake or was this just bad luck and the fortunes of F1?

Here are the race results for the Grand Prix of Europe …

Pos Driver

1 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes
2 Felipe Massa Ferrari
3 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault
4 Alexander Wurz Williams-Toyota
5 David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault
6 Nick Heidfeld BMW
7 Robert Kubica BMW
8 Heikki Kovalainen Renault
9 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
10 G. Fisichella Renault
11 R. Barrichello Honda
12 A. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda
13 Jarno Trulli Toyota
Ret Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari
Ret Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda
Ret Ralf Schumacher Toyota
Ret M. Winkelhock Spyker-Ferrari
Ret Jenson Button Honda
Ret Adrian Sutil Spyker-Ferrari
Ret Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota
Ret Scott Speed STR-Ferrari
Ret Vitantonio Liuzzi STR-Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton has been given a provisional clearance to race tomorrow after his crash during qualifying today for the European Grand Prix. He will have to clear one final medical check in the morning but all indications are that he will be racing and starting 10th on the grid.

The crash was caused by a faulty wheel gun that did not tighten the wheel nut properly. Now the team will have to hurry to get his car repaired and prepared for the start of the race tomorrow.

It looks like Lewis Hamilton suffered no major injuries in his crash during the Q3 session of the European GP qualifications. It is not yet clear if he will be racing tomorrow.

If Lewis does start the race tomorrow he will start from the 10th spot on the grid. It looks like the cause of the crash was some sort of mechanical failure in the right front of the car.