AlphaTauri rule out return to Toro Rosso name with ‘more money’ available elsewhere

Henry Valantine 01 Jul 2023 9:19 AM

AlphaTauri driver Nyck de Vries in action during the F1 season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix. Sakhir, March 2023.

AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost has said a return to the long-standing Toro Rosso name is unlikely next season.

Red Bull motorsport advisor confirmed in an interview with Austrian publicationKleine Zeitungearlier this week that wider changes at the team are due to take place for 2024 to bring the team as close to Red Bull as the regulations permit, including new sponsors and a new name.

With Red Bull’s junior team having fallen to ninth in the Constructors’ Championship last season and the team currently bottom in 2023 as it stands, change is afoot to try and make AlphaTauri competitive again, and Tost hinted that the team are exploring financial avenues over naming rights.

AlphaTauri吸引兴趣大潜能l title sponsors

While Tost, who has overseen the Red Bull junior squad since Toro Rosso entered the sport back in 2006, will retire at the end of the season, he was reluctant to give away too many details about what the changes at AlphaTauri will look like for after he departs.

“Nothing!” He quipped in response to being asked about what can be said about the upcoming changes to the team.

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“First of all, at this period of the year, all the teams negotiate with sponsors. And, of course, we have negotiations and the title sponsor is a very attractive one and we will see then what the negotiations will bring in the next months – but currently, we are talking to different companies fortunately.

“There is a big interest in Scuderia AlphaTauri, but nothing is confirmed, nothing is signed so far, and this will also not happen in the next few days. I think this will take a few months until everything has been fixed and then, of course, you all will be informed immediately!

But when pressed and asked if Toro Rosso, the name under which the team raced for 14 seasons in Formula 1, will be making a comeback, Tost said: “I don’t think so. I think there’s another possibility to get more money out of it.”

徐怀钰Tsunoda gave a tongue-in-cheek suggestionthat AlphaTauri should race under the name ‘Team Yuki’ next season, and spoke positively about the upcoming changes to the Faenza-based outfit.

Some of its operations are due to move to the UK in order to build closer ties to Red Bull, with Marko wanting to align the two teams as much as possible moving forward.