Formula 1 fans who have been following the sport since the 2000s, will be familiar with a team called Scuderia Toro Rosso. Toro Rosso acted as a junior team for Red Bull racing.
Scuderia Toro Rosso was introduced to Formula 1 in 2006, 1 year after the debut of Red Bull Racing. Although Red Bull was intended to be the senior team, at the time, there were races where Toro Rosso was performing better than Red Bull.
Since the inception of Toro Rosso, the owner, Dietrich Mateschitz, placed Frans Tozt as the team principal. Franz had a special talent for mentoring young drivers. A lot of drivers who have raced in Toro Rosso have gone on to become some of the most successful drivers in Formula 1. Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen are 2 names that stand out in the list of drivers to have driven in Toro Rosso. Daniel Ricciardo and Pierre Gasly also stand among these drivers.
What happened to Toro Rosso?
After the 2019 season, Toro Rosso was no longer considered a junior team to Red Bull. At the time, Pierre Gasly was outperforming the car and finished consistently in the top 7. He continued this performance in 2020 as well. After these impressive performances by the team, Toro Rosso was no longer the junior team for Red Bull. They became the sister team to Red Bull.
The 2020 season marked a major change for the team. Toro Rosso became Alpha Tauri. Alpha Tauri is the fashion brand of Red Bull. The rebranding seemed to have come at the right time as the team was just promoted to the sister team to Red Bull.
The team changed its colors along with the rebranding. Alpha Tauri has achieved a total of 2 Grand Prix victories. The first one came in the 2008 Italian Grand Prix at Monza. The victory was achieved by none other than Sebastian Vettel after he took pole position during a wet qualifying.
The second victory for the team came once again at the Italian Grand Prix in 2020. The win was one of the most deserved moments for Pierre Gasly who has had a rollercoaster of emotions with the team. The victory came after Lewis Hamilton pitted for fresh tires when the pit lane was closed. Hence he was handed a penalty which forced him to fight back from the back of the pack.
Who drives for Alpha Tauri now?
Alpha Tauri has a young driver and an experienced rookie in their driver lineup. Yuki Tsunoda joined the team in 2021. While he did not show too many special performances in his first 2 years, he is showing great potential in 2023. He could be a good prospect for Red Bull or even Aston Martin in the future.
Nyck de Vries won the 2017 Formula 2 Championship, but could not find a seat in Formula 1 at the time. He did find a seat in Formula E where he won the championship. He also served as Mercedes’s reserve driver.
Nyck made his Grand Prix debut in Formula 1 during the Italian Grand Prix in 2022 with Williams Racing. He made an impressive performance by scoring points in his debut with a Williams car. While fans speculated that he would sign with Williams, Alpha Tauri signed Nyck for the 2023 season.