It is really over for Franz Tost: the Austrian has now stepped down as team boss of - now still called - AlphaTauri. The fact that the 67-year-old no longer has any commitments in Formula 1 also gives him the chance to be a bit more outspoken. According to David Croft, commentator at Sky Sports, Tost even confessed that, in his view, two drivers do not belong in Formula 1 at all.

In the past, it was a well-known phenomenon: the so-called 'pay driver'. These were drivers who brought more money than talent to a team. Especially the less wealthy teams in Formula 1 would then let such a driver race anyway, because they could make good use of the sponsorship money brought in.

With Formula 1 booming all over the world like never before, the sport is currently doing well. Although not all teams are at the budget ceiling, there is usually enough prize and sponsorship money coming in to keep things running. As a result, drivers paying for a seat in F1 are fewer and fewer. These days, talent is a requirement for a place in Formula 1.

Which drivers do not belong in F1?

Yet Franz Tost believes there are two drivers on the F1 grid who do not really belong there in terms of talent. At least that is what commentator Croft states during Sky Sports' end-of-year podcast. "We were talking about drivers and he said: 'Yes, every driver in this paddock deserves to be in Formula 1 except for two'. I said: 'Who are they?' He said, 'Blah blah blah and blah blah blah' and I'm not going to name them, but I couldn't disagree with everything he said."

"Then he totally explained why they don't actually belong in Formula 1 at the moment. I'm not going to tell you who they are because that wouldn't be fair to those drivers," Croft says, however.