The Formula One team AlphaTauri, formerly known as Toro Rosso, could be rebranded again in the near future, according to Red Bull’s motorsport advisor Helmut Marko.
Marko told RacingNews365 that the name change was under consideration because the AlphaTauri fashion brand was not widely sold in the countries where the team races. He also said that the team needed to improve its results and bring in more money.
AlphaTauri was renamed from Toro Rosso in 2020 to reflect and promote Red Bull’s clothing line. The team had its best season ever in 2020, finishing sixth in the constructors’ championship and scoring a race win with Pierre Gasly at the Italian Grand Prix.
Lukas Raich, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
However, since then, the team has struggled to maintain its competitiveness and slipped to ninth place in 2022, scoring only 35 points. The team has also failed to score any points in the first two races of 2023, despite having promising rookie Yuki Tsunoda alongside Gasly.
Marko said that Red Bull had no intention of selling AlphaTauri, but was exploring other options such as restructuring, relocating or renaming the team. He said that Red Bull needed a second team for its engine development and young driver programme.
He also dismissed rumours that AlphaTauri’s team principal Franz Tost was losing his trust in his engineers after their inaccurate predictions over the winter. He said that Tost was a “very good leader” and that he expected him to stay with the team.
AlphaTauri is hoping to bounce back at the next race in Australia, where it plans to introduce some updates to its AT03 car. The team will also have to deal with the pressure of performing well at its home race in Austria later this year.
Heimo Ruschitz, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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