Toro Rosso confirm Sainz to partner Verstappen in 2015

Toro Rosso have confirmed that Carlos Sainz Jr will race alongside 17-year-old Max Verstappen at the team in 2015, giving the team the youngest driver line-up on the grid.

Twenty-year-old Sainz became the youngest ever winner of the Formula Renault 3.5 series last month and was always favourite to take over at Toro Rosso from Jean-Eric Vergne, who yesterday confirmed that he had lost his fight to retain his drive at the Faenza squad.

“I am really happy to have landed the drive with Scuderia Toro Rosso,” said Sainz, who earlier this week tested for Red Bull Racing in Abu Dhabi as a prize for winning the Formula Renault title.

“Ever since I have been part of Red Bull’s Young Driver Programme, this has been my aim and I want to thank Red Bull for putting their faith in me,” he added. “I have had a very successful season in World Series by Renault this year and now I am looking forward to taking the step up to Formula One.

“I tested for a day with Toro Rosso last year and I liked the atmosphere in the team. In the next few months I will be working hard on my preparation, ready to get in the cockpit in Jerez for the first test of next year. It will be nice to make my ‘official’ debut as a Formula One driver in my home country.”

Team Principal Franz Tost added: “I have watched Carlos progress through the junior categories, always improving as he moved higher up the ladder, culminating in a well-deserved win in this year’s World Series.

“However, I also remember the day’s testing he did with us at Silverstone in 2013 in the STR8,” he added. “He really surprised me and his engineers that day, with his mature approach and his speed.”

Vergne, meanwhile, has said Red Bull’s decision to axe him had been difficult for the company to reverse.

"Although the people at Red Bull had told me that if Vettel left the team it would be me who would replace him, I think it was difficult to reverse a decision that was made in August when they said I would not be with Toro Rosso or Red Bull in 2015. But at that time they had no idea that Vettel was going," he told French broadcaster Canal Plus.