“You’re totally crazy!” - Outgoing AlphaTauri boss Franz Tost reflects on signing Max Verstappen

At just 16, Verstappen was announced as an F1 driver, joining Toro Rosso alongside Carlos Sainz for the 2015 campaign.

It meant Verstappen would break the record for youngest-ever F1 driver at just 17, two years younger than Jaime Alguersuari - who previously held the record - in 2009.

Verstappen would move up to Red Bull in 2016, taking his first victory on debut at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Since then, Verstappen has enjoyed a plethora of success, winning three world titles, 53 races and 97 podiums.

At the time, given his age and lack of single-seater experience, the decision to sign Verstappen was heavily criticised.

Speaking on the F1 Nation Podcast, Tost - who will leave F1 after this weekend’s race in Abu Dhabi - spoke about Verstappen and the decision to sign him.

“Then of course Max [Verstappen]. Max because of his unbelievable speed,” he said.

“When we brought him to Formula 1, I remember back some of your colleagues came to me and said you’re totally crazy, how can you take someone who doesn’t even have a driver’s licence?

“And I said, I don’t want to discuss this with you now, come in five years and then we can discuss it because then I got tired of defending our decision.

“This unbelievable natural speed, you could see, sometimes in Formula 3, I remember back at this wet race at the Norisring, I thought Max was driving on a dry line because he was two seconds faster than the rest.

“This reminded me also of when Michael Schumacher won the Formula 4 race at the Salzburg Ring in similar conditions and he was also two, three seconds faster than the rest.

“And then this is important for me, I want to see what a driver is doing in our car.”