Christian Horner emphasizes that the collaboration between Red Bull and AlphaTauri in Formula 1 is within the regulations. He denies any unauthorized synergies.
The FIA announced this week that it would issue new guidelines to ensure that cooperation between two Formula 1 teams does not violate the regulations. Possibly a reaction to the increased cooperation between Red Bull and AlphaTauri?
It’s no secret that the team from Faenza should move even closer to their sister team in the future. Helmut Marko himself emphasized in May that he wanted to “use as many synergies with Red Bull Racing as are allowed in the regulations.”
For some competitors, the jump that AlphaTauri made towards the end of the 2023 season may not be a coincidence. In the last five races, the team from Faenza scored 20 points, having only collected five points the entire season.
In this context, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner emphasizes that nothing has been done that violates the regulations. “We are still a long way from a ‘pink Mercedes’,” explains Horner with a wink.
A nod to the 2020 season when there were huge similarities between the Racing Point and last year’s Mercedes car. Racing Point was punished at the time because, in the opinion of the race stewards, they had exceeded the limits of the regulations.
Horner: Other cars are much more similar to the Red Bull
This is clearly not the case with AlphaTauri, emphasizes Horner.
“There are some transferable components that are clearly listed in the regulations,” reminds the team boss and makes it clear that AlphaTauri is not getting anything more from Red Bull.
“If you look at the car, there are very fundamental differences between this car and a Red Bull car,” says Horner, adding: “There are other cars on the field that are much closer in concept [am Red Bull] than an AlphaTauri.”
Horner also gives concrete examples in this context: “You just have to look at an Aston Martin or even a McLaren. If you look at the rear suspension of a McLaren, it is very similar to our concept.”
He also emphasizes: “Of course there are certain components that we can supply, as is the case with Mercedes and Ferrari, which equip current Grand Prix teams with gearboxes and suspensions as well as simulation tools and wind tunnels.”
In this respect, there is no particularly different relationship between AlphaTauri and Red Bull than between the factory and customer teams at Mercedes and Ferrari. Ultimately, it is up to the teams themselves “how they use these tools,” says Horner.
FIA also convinced of AlphaTauri legality
“You can see that McLaren has in some respects used these tools better than their supplier for half the year,” he emphasizes. Because McLaren took nine podium places last season, the Mercedes works team “only” eight.
But how was AlphaTauri able to make such a big leap at the end of the season?
Chief engineer Jonathan Eddolls explains: “We obviously started the season with a big deficit, so there’s a lot [Performance] was to be found.”
Ultimately, the people at the factory simply did “a really good job” and “identified and corrected the weak points” of the car. “We brought updates to the car throughout the year,” he recalls. And that paid off in the end.
By the way, the FIA also does not believe that AlphaTauri has violated the regulations in 2023. Nikolas Tombazis, head of the FIA’s formula racing department, explains: “We believe that AlphaTauri has completely different aerodynamic solutions than [Red Bull].”
“It is clear that they are working hard and have taken a step forward. But I do not believe that this is due to collaboration,” he emphasizes, clarifying: “We do not believe that there are signs of direct collaboration .”