AlphaTauri ignores free Red Bull upgrades for their own design

In order to reduce the costs for the 2021 season, FOM has chosen to set up a token system, which allows teams to develop a limited number of cars. Racing Point, which will continue next season under the name Aston Martin, and AlphaTauri both benefit from these rules as they are allowed to upgrade even more with the same number of tokens.

Racing Point can take over parts from Mercedes, while AlphaTauri can do so from Red Bull Racing. Remarkably, the Italian team chooses not to take over the back of Red Bull for the coming season and relies on their own equipment. "We will be driving with the same rear end next year," explains technical director Jody Egginton to The Race.

Own vision for 2021

"We thought about it for a long time, because it is of course nice if you can go to the sweet shop and find out what you want. However, the things we want to improve are on the other side of the car," by which Egginton refers to the front of AlphaTauri. That's where they will spend their tokens. Taking over the rear of Red Bull means that at AlphaTauri they also have to focus on other parts of the car. 

"We have to spend our budget wisely, because we have to spend a lot of time in the car before 2022. We are comfortable with what we have now, so we are going to continue to develop with it." Egginton understands that AlphaTauri has its own philosophy and does not follow Red Bull's path. 

"The areas we focus on in the performance are the same as those we focused on last year. There are no major weaknesses, we just need to raise the bar in each area."