Racing Bulls, the former AlphaTauri and Toro Rosso, was close to disappearing: the confirmation comes directly from Peter Bayer, CEO of the Faenza-based team
It hasn’t been an easy few years in Faenza: after Pierre Gasly’s success at Monza in 2020, Racing Bulls (formerly AlphaTauri) has struggled to return to the top positions. This has been reflected in a sixth-place finish in the Constructors’ standings, which is now at risk of dropping to seventh due to a significantly more competitive Haas team than in previous years.
The team’s driver situation has been far from ideal. Over the last two years, Yuki Tsunoda has been the only consistent figure. On the other side of the garage, injuries and mid-season replacements have led to no fewer than five driver changes in just a year and a half.
From Nyck De Vries, who lasted only a handful of races, to the return of Ricciardo, who was then injured and replaced by Lawson, only to return to the track and then once again be replaced, this time permanently, by the New Zealander starting from the Austin GP.
Bayer: “We considered keeping just one team”
On this matter, the CEO of Racing Bulls expressed the concerns they had in the past about dissolving or selling the Faenza team: “Red Bull has set its strategy: I don’t think it was a secret that there was a discussion about whether to keep both teams or focus on just one, Red Bull Racing…” Bayer told Motorsport Week, implying that there had been talks at Milton Keynes about potentially selling (or closing) the satellite team.
“However, we quickly came to the conclusion that no, we want to keep both teams: there are many positive aspects to this kind of operation,” the Austrian responded, thus calming the waters regarding the possible departure of the second Italy-based team in Formula 1.
Photo: Visa CashApp Racing Bulls F1 Team
