AlphaTauri breaks down the significant role they played in making Red Bull world champions

Red Bull ended their relationship with Renault and made Honda their engine manufacturer in 2019,, following their sister team, AlphaTauri’s, then Torro Rosso, move same in 2018. It was one of the best decisions in the team’s history, as they could dominate F1 since 2021. Max Verstappen has won two titles with the Honda power units. Now AlphaTauri’s principal, Franz Tost, has explained the unique role his team played in Red Bull becoming a dominant force in Formula One.

AlphaTauri, formerly known as Toro Rosso, made its Formula 1 debut in 2006, replacing the Minardi F1 team. The team helped the likes of Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen to establish themselves before securing championship-worthy seats. Along with being the first step for Red Bull’s junior driver, it also helped the team in more productive use of their engineers and resources.

Franz Tost acknowledged maintaining contact with Honda since its return to F1 as a manufacturer in 2015. In 2017, with rivals McLaren, the team decided to shift their focus towards Honda. In 2018, Tost negotiated the deal to use Honda power units for the Toro Rosso team. The team built a special partnership where the Honda engineers visited the team’s Faenza base. He added that this corporation and communication resulted in machinery that made champions.

“We had a very open business relationship, and on the technical side, there was a real, really cooperative collaboration between Honda and between Toro Rosso in those days. Many times engineers came here to Japan, to Sakura, the other way round as well. Honda engineers came to Faenza. And this good cooperation and this good communication between both parties ended in winning the championship and winning races,” said Franz Tost, as reported by Racefans.net

Discover: Pierre Gasly sympathizes with Liam Lawson over Red Bull snub, admits he ‘knows how it feels’

Franz Tost admits the team had concerns over his decision to switch to Honda 

Franz Tost acknowledged that in 2018, when they made the decision to go with Honda, the entire paddock was opposed to the decision. Many expressed their concerns, predicting the transition would challenge the team. Tost mentioned that he challenged them to revisit their questions after five years, and then he would evaluate whether any adjustments were necessary.

From 2018 to 2020, spanning 59 races, there were 17 occurrences where drivers using Honda power units at Red Bull and Toro Rosso/AlphaTauri were penalized by starting from the back of the grid due to the use of additional power unit elements. Out of these instances, nine took place in 2018 when Toro Rosso was the sole team using Honda engines. These sacrifices made by the junior team played a significant role.

“We nearly got to every race a new upgrade, which meant we had to start from the back, but this was calculated. And this development speed during 2018 made it possible to have such a good power unit then provided to the teams, to Red Bull Racing and to Scuderia Toro Rosso in 2019 and 2020,” he said.

In case you missed it:

• Adrian Newey admits to having ’emotional regrets’ for not working with Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso
• Nyck de Vries admits he is still ‘hurt’ over ‘premature end’ to F1 career

Stay Updated!

Join our newsletter to receive exclusive updates and curated insights directly to your inbox.

Subscribe NOW