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Red Bull plans to change the name of the AlphaTauri Formula 1 team as it evolves the strategy for how to revitalise its second entry.
The team formerly known as Toro Rosso was rebranded in 2020, having used the same name since Red Bull bought Minardi ahead of the 2006 season.
AlphaTauri’s new identity was based on the Red Bull-owned fashion label of the same name, with a clear marketing motive behind it.
But that appears to have had limited success, despite efforts such as launching the team’s 2023 car around New York Fashion Week.
The Red Bull parent company has had a significant change in leadership in the last 12 months, since co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz – the man responsible for its massive F1 commitments – passed away in October.
Since then, part of the scrutiny of its various projects has been a detailed review into the underperformance and efficiency of its second F1 team.
The Race understands the name will change, and it may tie into the arrival of new sponsors, but it has not been decided yet and it will not return to the old Toro Rosso moniker.
An ongoing plan to boost the team’s competitiveness by realigning it more closely with Red Bull Racing is also evolving.
While the lead team has continued to be immensely successful and is on course to win both F1 championships for the second year in a row, AlphaTauri struggled to build on the momentum of establishing itself as an upper-midfield team, a win in 2020, and a joint-best championship result in 2021.
Red Bull’s conclusion has been that its F1 teams should share as many resources as possible. This was the case in the past, but currently AlphaTauri does not buy as many components from its sister team as F1’s rules allow.
The fact it is headquartered in Italy while Red Bull has a massive campus in the UK has also been under review, and AlphaTauri’s UK presence will change as a result.
AlphaTauri’s aerodynamics team is currently based in Bicester but the lease on that facility is set to expire, and it will be relocated to Milton Keynes by the middle of next year.
All design elements including on the mechanical side will also be based there, as the 2024 AlphaTauri will then take as many parts from Red Bull as possible, with production and the race team remaining at Faenza.
Having a significant presence on the site of its sister team could be similar in principle to Haas using the simulator and having a design office at Ferrari’s Maranello base.
Current AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda said he is enthusiastic about the plans as he believes there should have been a closer alliance already.
“We saw the last two years was not really in the place that we wanted, especially from last year,” said Tsunoda.
“They gave us the chance of one more year [in 2023] and it didn’t improve much.
“It’s a good thing, having a lot more connection between Red Bull and AlphaTauri – probably it should be like that from three years ago.
“I’m feeling pretty optimistic, lots of connections, stronger connections between Red Bull, so it should be better overall.”
