Franz Tost Says F1 Right To Go To Azerbaijan

Toro Rosso Team Principal Franz Tost defended F1's decision "to race in Azerbaijan next year while brushing off concerns about media freedom and the country's human rights record," according to Alan Baldwin of REUTERS.

Asked at a Hungarian Grand Prix news conference "how he would react if some reporters were denied entry for Baku's race debut next year, as happened during the inaugural European Games recently, Tost was unmoved."

Tost: "There must be a reason why the visa was denied. I don't know the background. To be honest, I don't care about this. So we go there, we race there and that's it. It's your problem how you get the visa." He said that F1 "was a sport and above politics."

Tost: "We go there to entertain. We do not go there for any political reasons. It's the same issue we had a couple of years ago with Bahrain." Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner "also made light of the prospect of reporters being barred entry." He said, "It would make our press conferences a lot shorter anyway, so maybe not a bad thing." Reuters