AlphaTauri will reduce its usage of Red Bull parts

AlphaTauri will use fewer Red Bull parts in 2023 than in previous years. Chief engineer Jonathan Eddolls tells Auto, Motor und Sport that AlphaTauri wants more autonomy over how the parts fit into the overall design of the cars.

The collaboration between Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri (formerly Toro Rosso) has been a particularly successful one. The most renowned drivers in Red Bull's history - such as Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel - started their careers with the sister team. In the other direction, AlphaTauri has been very supportive of Red Bull with, for example, parts development and knowledge channelling. But so that may change from next year.

Red Bull's speed sometimes has more disadvantages than advantages

AlphaTauri has dropped off far this year. Whereas last year it was still able to battle Alpine at the front of the midfield, the team now has to try hard to get out of ninth place. Eddolls suggests that this could still be due to the partnership with Red Bull. " The speed at which Red Bull develops and produces parts is just phenomenal," he explains. "They can keep everything open until the last minute, which is really fantastic. But when we take components from there, we get information about the final design very late. That in turn can affect our aerodynamics because we have to work with new and different concepts."

So from next year, AlphaTauri will start designing more components itself to be less dependent on the system Red Bull is working with. Eddolls thinks AlphaTauri has learnt a lot from this season, which means there is more knowledge within the team itself to chart its own course.