“B” teams within Formula 1 have been around for a long time. In this sport there is the motorization of some brands to other teams, this means that a motorist, who may also have its Formula 1 team, can provide the power unit to another team in the category. This means that they will be rivals on the track but the team that is buying the power unit from the other will be at the mercy of its performance and also its reliability.
There are currently 4 brands of engines in Formula 1. Mercedes uses its own brand power unit, while also supplying it to McLaren, Aston Martin and Williams. Ferrari also uses its own engine, selling it to Haas and Alfa Romeo as well. Alpine is the only team to use a Renault-branded power unit.
Lastly, and who we will talk about in this article, it is Red Bull and AlphaTauri, who use a Honda-Red Bull Powertrains power unit. This is a collaboration between the Japanese brand and the new brand of the energy drink that is focused solely on power units called Red Bull Powertrains.
Now that we know which teams use which brand of power unit, there are teams that are called the “B” teams of the main one. For example, Williams, with a Mercedes engine, is usually used for drivers who are part of Mercedes youth academies to start there. For its part, AlphaTauri is owned by Red Bull, and being a team that is not yet fighting for the championship, Red Bull Racing occupies AlphaTauri as the place where the junior drivers of the energetic brand begin to carve their way within the highest category of motorsport.
Photo credit: Red Bull Content Pool
A few months ago, a rumour began to circulate in the F1 paddock that Red Bull could sell its B team, AlphaTauri, due to the high costs of the distance between the two factories. Recall that Red Bull Racing is based in Milton Keynes, UK, while AlphaTauri is based in Faenza, Italy.
The managers of the top team had already commented that AlphaTauri had to improve its performance, both commercially and on the track. It has just been confirmed, thanks to Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s main advisor, that they have ruled out the option of selling the Italian team.
Similarly, they have confirmed that Faenza, Italy will remain the team’s base, however British Red Bull Racing staff will be hired to continue the improvement and synchronization between these two teams, plus Italian staff will have to move to its building in Bicester, UK.
“The decision has been made. AlphaTauri will remain fully owned by Red Bull and will continue to be run as a junior team.
“The cooperation with Red Bull Racing will be closer, also in terms of cost cap and synergies. With his know-how, which he has acquired at the FIA, [Bayer] is very important. Of course, this will also flow into the Red Bull Racing,” Helmut Marko said during an interview with Formel1.de.
We also have to remember some organisational changes that the Italian team has experienced, which highlight their new team principal that they will have starting next season, Ferrari’s Laurent Mekies, replacing Franz Tost. Besides that, Peter Bayer, former FIA secretary general, will be the new CEO of the team.
This was what Tost commented on the possible move of the team to the United Kingdom, which was later ruled out.
“It was always clear to me anyway that the team would stay in Faenza. We have all the infrastructure here. In England, AlphaTauri already has a lot of employees. The whole aero team is in England. And what we will certainly do in the future is, if we want to sign engineers but they just don’t go to Italy, for whatever reason, they can then work from that base in England.”
