Alpha Tauri had witnessed a plummeting performance for the last few seasons. Therefore, the senior team attempts to intervene by giving them as many Red Bull car parts as possible, starting with the 2024 season.
Alpha Tauri is the second team or the junior team of Red Bull racing, Red Bull tests its strategies as well as drivers in this team first, then move on to promote them to the main team. Max, Albon, Gasly, Vettel etc have all raced for Alpha Tauri (Torro Rosso then)
Helmut Marko confirms 2024 changes for Alpha Tauri
Helmut Marko has expressed dissatisfaction with the Alpha Tauri team but feels the moment is apt for a change, including the team’s brand perception. Team principal Franz Tost is estimated to retire at the end of the year; hence the team will be under a new leadership soon.
Peter Bayer and Laurent Mekies will be the two new leaders of Alpha Tauri in 2024. The Red Bull Boss also confirmed the possibility of having new sponsors and a different name for the team.
“The direction is clear: follow Red Bull Racing to the extent the rules permit. Own designs are not a good idea.” He commented
“Basically, Yuki is having a very good season with unfortunate results and penalties, but the performance is right. With Nyck de Vries, however, we are not satisfied; we are also looking at that.” He said when asked about the current state of both the drivers.
Alpha Tauri’s downward spiral movement to be addressed
Alpha Tauri spent several seasons racing successfully in the middle pack of the field, but they plummeted to ninth in the Constructors’ Championship last year and are currently placed last in the constructor’s leaderboard this year with only two points after eight races.
If we look at the team’s past performance, we would find that during the days of Toro Rosso, the team was consistently around the P6-P8 mark. This streak continued even after the rebrand to Alpha Tauri in 2020.
However, after the significant regulatory changes in 2022, Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda’s performances dropped, and they could only manage P9 in the championship, ahead only of Williams. As they struggle into 2023, Nyck de Vries and Tsunoda’s hopes that it was a one-season hiccup are already looking improbable.
This performance is almost 180 degrees of Red Bull, as they have transformed from mere title challengers to race favourites, and as a result, the scrutiny glasses have fallen onto the sibling team. Stay tuned to ZionSports to find out if Alpha Tauri makes a comeback.
