Speed: STR are pushing to get rid of me and Tonio.

Scott Speed's strained relationship with Scuderia Toro Rosso seems to have taken another turn for the worst this weekend, with Speed TV reporting that the American, eliminated along with Vitantonio Liuzzi on lap three of the European Grand Prix during the severe shower just after the start of the race, and Tost had a heated exchange that a witness described as akin to 'assault'.

Tensions have been high in the STR garage for some time since the team hinted at their misgivings of having Speed and team-mate Liuzzi racing the cars, with recent rumours mooting the names of Sebastien Bourdais and Ralf Schumacher for the future.

Earlier in the weekend STR had revealed that they have an option on three-time Champ Car World Series Champion Bourdais for 2008, an announcement that is unlikely to have had a motivational effect on Speed and Liuzzi, who are thought to have fallen out favour with the team having scored only one point between them since 2006.

Indeed, Speed took the opportunity to blast his team bosses for trying to remove himself and Liuzzi from the STR team in such a public manner.

"Gerhard and Franz have their own ideas about what they want to do with their future, and they say things accordingly," he told SpeedTV.com earlier in the weekend. "That's nothing to do with my performance on the track, that's for sure. It's clear that from my bosses me and Tonio both have very little support.

"It's been that way for the last two years, and it's a lot more now. At some point I said I don't care -- if I'm not in F1 next year, if I'm with a different team, it's OK for me. It's actually made me lot more relaxed and a lot more calm, and I think I'm producing better results, actually.

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to read the press and know that Franz and Gerhard are pushing like hell to get rid of me and Tonio."

Since then, matters appear to have come to a head again with Speed and Tost confronting one another after the race, Tost 'grabbing' at Speed as he attempted to walk away.

STR's reaction to the European Grand Prix also managed to reveal their frustrations, their post-race press release simply reading 'Nothing to Say'.