AlphaTauri deliberately left Red Bull's 'free' new gearbox behind

It's no secret that AlphaTauri is taking many parts from Red Bull Racing, but in 2021 Red bull's sister team has still chosen to keep old parts as well. Karun Chandhok explains why.

In 2021, teams with two tokens were allowed to change parts on the car, with one part costing more tokens than the other, of course. Customer teams were in luck though, as parts that would normally be purchased could now be renewed. AlphaTauri didn't take advantage of this.

AlphaTauri buys parts from Red Bull every year, including the rear of the car. However, this rear end and also gearbox in 2021 is again the one from 2019, and not the one from 2020. AlphaTauri could have taken over without losing a token, but decided not to.

''They have a 2019 gearbox again. If they had wanted to take the 2020 gearbox, they would have had to replace parts around it to make it work properly, whereas they wanted to tackle the front end,'' Chandhok said on F1TV's broadcast. However, the former F1 driver has another reason.

''They realize very well that they have a 'Rookie' (Yuki Tsunoda) in the car, and therefore they don't want to take a risk with a car that is unsettled. They may not have the same peak downforce as Red Bull, but they also have a different goal. AlphaTauri trains drivers for Red Bull, while Red Bull is all about winning,'' Chandhok concludes.