Scuderia AlphaTauri

Scuderia AlphaTauri, or simply AlphaTauri, was an Italian Formula One racing team and constructor that competed from 2020 to 2023. It was one of two Formula One constructors owned by Austrian conglomerate Red Bull GmbH, the other being Red Bull Racing. The constructor was rebranded for the 2020 Formula One World Championship from "Toro Rosso" to "AlphaTauri" in order to promote Red Bull's AlphaTauri fashion brand. According to Franz Tost and Helmut Marko, the rebrand as Scuderia AlphaTauri also acknowledged that it had transitioned from Red Bull Racing's junior team to its sister team. Throughout its history, the team has only scored one victory and two podiums, all scored by Pierre Gasly, winning the 2020 Italian Grand Prix and placing third in the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The team was rebranded as RB in 2024.

Origins

In September 2019, Toro Rosso announced their intention to change their naming rights for the 2020 championship. It was announced on 1 December 2019 that the team had selected "AlphaTauri" as their new moniker to promote parent company Red Bull's fashion label of the same name by purchasing Toro Rosso's naming rights. Thus, they became Scuderia AlphaTauri and retired the Scuderia Toro Rosso moniker after fourteen years. The team's involvement in Formula One started in the 1985 season when they first competed as Minardi. The team has been owned by Red Bull GmbH since the 2006 season.

Racing history

2020

AlphaTauri had Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly drive for them in their debut season. The team remained with the Honda engine, being the team's engine partner since the 2018 season. Sérgio Sette Câmara, Sébastien Buemi, and Jüri Vips were signed as the team's test drivers. The team achieved its first podium finish and race victory under the AlphaTauri name at the 2020 Italian Grand Prix, which also marked Pierre Gasly's first race victory and the first win for a French Formula One driver since Olivier Panis won the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix 24 years prior. AlphaTauri ended the year in 7th place on 107 points, 75 for Gasly and 32 for Kvyat.

2021

For the 2021 season, AlphaTauri retained Gasly and signed Yuki Tsunoda to replace Kvyat. Gasly scored the team's first podium of the year by finishing in third place at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Gasly also consolidated this by finishing 4th at the Dutch and Mexico City Grands Prix. Tsunoda's best finish was 4th place at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

2022

Both drivers were retained for the 2022 season. AlphaTauri used Red Bull-branded Honda engines due to the former's subsequent takeover of the Honda engine programme due to Honda exiting Formula One at following the 2021 season.

2023

For the 2023 season, Yuki Tsunoda was retained at the team and Nyck de Vries signed with the team with Gasly moving to Alpine after five years with the team.

Team principal Tost left the team at the end of the season and was replaced by Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies following the team's rebranding to RB Formula One Team.

Ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, De Vries was released from the team, with Daniel Ricciardo replacing him on loan from Red Bull Racing for the remainder of the season. Ricciardo suffered a broken metacarpal on his left hand after crashing during the second practice session of the Dutch Grand Prix. As a result, Liam Lawson was brought in as Ricciardo's replacement for the events between the Dutch and Qatar Grands Prix. Ricciardo returned for the final five races of the season, and scored the team's highest points finish with seventh place in the 2023 Mexico City Grand Prix.