Franz Tost, team principal of Scuderia AlphaTauri, has denied the rumours that the team is up for sale after assurances from the stakeholders. In a statement on Twitter the team boss writes:
I had some very good meetings with Oliver Mintzlaff, who confirmed that the shareholders will not sell Scuderia AlphaTauri, and that Red Bull will continue supporting the team in the future. All these rumours have no foundation, and the team has to remain focused for the start of the season to perform better than last year.
Past week rumours arose that Red Bull Racing’s sister team might be up for sale, as the investments in the team don’t seem to yield the desired results for the AlphaTauri fashion brand. Auto, Motor und Sport explained that, after Dietrich Mateschitz’s passing last year, Red Bull’s new management structure is dissatisfied with the results, both on track and as a marketing tool for clothing.
An option would be to move the team to England to reduce costs, but if that proves not to be possible, a sale would be next on the cards. Red Bull’s top advisor Helmut Marko did little to downplay the rumours. as he stated to Sky Germany that the results from last year were unsatisfactory:
In general, we don’t comment on rumours. It’s understandable that AlphaTauri can’t be satisfied with what it achieved last year – ninth place in the constructors’ championship. But such a decision is entirely up to the shareholders. These are rumours that we do not comment on in detail.
He did however confirm that the efficiency is being looked into, saying:
You think about how you can increase efficiency. If you have a team that wins the world championship and the other one is only around ninth place, the synergies don’t seem to work properly.
So for now Franz Tost has put these rumours to bed, but since in Formula 1 things can change on a whim, don’t be surprised if these rumours return after a sloppy start of the season.
