Toro Rosso are one of the very few teams that still have a seat up for grabs for 2019, due to the departure of Pierre Gasly to Red Bull Racing. Daniil Kvyat has been confirmed as returning to the team, taking on of the seats, but the second cockpit is proving more difficult to fill. Brendon Hartley has had a very difficult season with the team, while the most likely external candidate, Pascal Wehrlein, has just signed a deal to race with Mahindra in Formula E.
With just a few races remaining in the season, Toro Rosso are beginning to get proactive about trying to find the best fit for the drive next season, and have given F2 driver Sean Gelael a spin out in Austin. The 21 year old Indonesian driver currently races with Prema in F2 and is P15 in the standings with a best result of P2 in the Monaco feature race back in May. He has driven the Toro Rosso before, having done four practice sessions with the team last season as well as some in-season testing this year.