Speed claims he was physically attacked by Franz Tost
In an interview, Scott Speed declared that the was physically attacked by Franz Tost, the co-owner of Toro Rosso. Earlier this week, Speed declared that Tost and Berger want both him and Liuzzi out at Toro Rosso as soon as possible, but now it seems more and more that Speed drove his final race for the team at the Nürbürgring.
Scott Speed, like so many others, crashed in Turn One during the heavy rain fall at Nürbürgring this weekend during the European Grand Prix. The STR2 of the American got beached next to the cars of Sutil, Rosberg, Button, Hamilton and team mate Liuzzi. Only minutes later, the red flag came out as it was too dangerous to race on the extremely wet track. After Speed returned to the pitwall, things got out of hand.
Speed said: "Franz Tost in particular is out of control. The fact of the matter is when we left the pit wall, Franz was furious that I'd crashed in Turn 1, regardless of the fact that nearly every single driver behind Jenson Button did the exact same thing, including Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
I just turned away and walked towards the garage, and I guess he must have caught up behind me. When he reached me, he hit me in the middle of the back with a closed fist. Everyone in the team saw it. As I was leaving the garage he then followed me behind the partition, where none of the mechanics could see. He grabbed me from the front of my shirt, jerked me around, ripping a little bit my fire suit, 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.
Initially I didn't want to come out in the press and talk about this, because after the race Franz spent 15 minutes apologising for his behaviour, because it was clear to everyone that he was way out of line."
Scott Speed is especially worried that what happened on Sunday and talking about it in the press will hurt Red Bull and Dietrich Mateschitz as this is the last thing the American driver wants. He always had the support of both Red Bull and Mateschitz and is very thankful for that. He said: "I know that it's going to hurt Red Bull, and that's definitely not my intention, because Dietrich Mateschitz and Red Bull have been a huge support to me. They're the reasons I have achieved everything I have in motor racing."
He added: "To be honest, the only thing I'm worried about is my relationship with Red Bull, because obviously Franz Tost and Gerhard Berger have been pushing the same dishonesty to the media, and I'm worried that might have ruined my relationship with Red Bull. Because Red Bull has been amazing to me, and I think we fit together really good, and it's a shame to let these two people ruin the whole thing.
As far as my future in F1 is concerned, you couldn't pay me enough money to race for those two people (Tost and Berger) again. If it was with a different team, that would be great, but I would also like to do something else with Red Bull, even if it was outside F1. Like I said, my relationship with Red Bull has been fantastic."
