AlphaTauri is to be renamed from the 2024 Formula 1 season as part of the team’s ongoing restructure, says Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko.
The Faenza-based outfit is preparing for a revised management structure with long-serving team principal Franz Tost stepping back from running AlphaTauri at the end of this year.
Tost’s replacement was confirmed earlier in the season as Ferrari’s racing director Laurent Mekies will step into the role, and now further changes in the pipeline include the AlphaTauri name disappearing from the grid after four years.
Speaking to Austria’s Kleine Zeitung, Marko said: “AlphaTauri will have two new leaders in Laurent Mekies and Peter Bayer [the outgoing FIA general secretary] from 2024.
“There will be new sponsors and also a new name. The orientation is clear: based on Red Bull Racing, as far as the regulations allow. Do-it-yourself constructions are the wrong way.”
The news marks AlphaTauri’s latest rebrand in the team’s history having previously ran under the Toro Rosso banner between 2006 and 2019 following Red Bull’s takeover of Minardi.
The name change was part of Red Bull’s strategy to promote its AlphaTauri fashion label, but new CEO Oliver Mintzlaff has questioned the minimal impact the F1 team has had on exposing the brand.
AlphaTauri’s future was recently under speculation at the start of 2023 after the death of Red Bull co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz at the end of last year, but Marko confirmed last month the team would not be sold.
In an effort to merge the two Red Bull’s teams closer together, AlphaTauri’s main hub will move to a new UK base to cut costs and improve its form after a difficult start to the season.
“The decision has been made. AlphaTauri will remain fully owned by Red Bull and will continue to be run as a junior team,” said Marko.
“The cooperation with Red Bull Racing will be closer, also in terms of cost cap and synergies.”
