Tost denies grabbing Speed by neck

Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost has denied grabbing Scott Speed by the neck after Speed claims he was punched in the back by Tost and then grabbed by the neck after the race in Nurburgring. Recall that after the altercation Tost told Autosport that Speed would still drive in Hungary, and as we all know they fired him instead, so we need to establish first that Tost lies.

"When Scott came to the pit wall after going off the track, he complained about the very bad performance of the team because of the delay he suffered during the pitstop," Tost told Autosprint magazine.

"By contrast, I firstly asked him why he went off, then I tried to explain to him that he was the one who actually caused the chaos, but he didn't listen to me. He carried on wanting to know why the team took so long to change his tires when he came into the pits.

"It seemed like that was his only worry, while mine is, most of all, that the team are not put in doubt and their job not denigrated.

"There was a reason why the pitstop lasted that long: in his in lap Scott overtook our other car – that of Vitantonio Liuzzi – in the last sector. The GPS fit on our cars did not show that Scott had overtaken Tonio, cutting through the chicane, just before entering the pitlane. [The GPS] maybe didn't have enough time to catch the move.

"The team there, who were expecting to see Tonio coming, were left dumbfounded and were unprepared. Scott overtook his teammate by avoiding the chicane and I think he would have had to give back the position to avoid a penalty, if he stayed in the race.

"That's why I got upset: I was annoyed by his attitude, by the fact that his only worry seemed to blame the team. I mean, he went off the track, he made a mistake: I make mistakes every day as well, that's not the problem. But I can't tolerate that he casts a cloud over the work of the team.

"That's why, when he turned around to leave, I followed him and grabbed him by the shoulder. 'While I'm talking to you,' I said, 'you can't leave like this.' I deny having grabbed him by the neck, while it's true that, once I had calmed down, I apologized to him."