Alpha Tauri

**Scuderia Alpha Tauri,** formerly known from 2006 to 2019 as **Scuderia Toro Rosso**, was an Italian racing team and the feeder team of Red Bull. Founded as Toro Rosso in 2006 after Red Bull's controversial takeover of Minardi, the team served as a stepping stone for young drivers to enter the sport, most notably Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen, with the team enduring ups and downs and even scoring a win in 2008 thanks to Vettel. In 2020, with the sport becoming Formula Earth, Toro Rosso also changed its name to Alpha Tauri, starting with their last Toro Rosso lineup, Pierre Gasly and Daniil Kvyat. 2021 saw the team score its first podiums under the new name, but in the later years, due to Red Bull saving money for the future, faced hard times, even failing to score points for entire seasons. From 2032 onwards, the team endured an upwards trajectory, even overthrowing their parent team in 2034 with Farid Esmaeilzadeh winning the title and becoming the youngest ever Formula Earth champion at the age of 22. However, in later years the team's mismanagement saw them dropping down the grid rapidly and after struggling for cash between 2036 and 2039, Red Bull decided to shut down and sell the team. After a bidding war, Formula International team HSBC Nero purchased the assets and moved up to Formula Earth.

## Origins and Formula 1 History

Alpha Tauri was founded as Toro Rosso in 2006, after Minardi owner Paul Stoddart was unable to support the historic Italian team and sold it to Red Bull, a move that still annoys most classic Formula 1 fans. Toro Rosso began as a backmarker, being intended as the stepping stone for Red Bull academy prospects. In 2008, they did overthrow Red Bull thanks to Sebastian Vettel winning a race in Italy 2008, but in 2009 they finished last in the standings. From 2010 to 2013, the team continued to give talents a chance, and in 2015 they gave Dutch prodigy Max Verstappen a chance to race, becoming the then-youngest F1 driver, a record broken by the late Ivan Marincic in 2021.

## 2020-2022: The Alpha Tauri beginning days and midfield success

In 2020, the team changed its name to Alpha Tauri, named after Red Bull's fashion brand. The team also kept its last Toro Rosso lineup, Pierre Gasly and Daniil Kvyat. The team continued in performance in the same way as it was during the Toro Rosso days, finishing in a regular seventh place. The lineup was rewarded with contracts for 2021, with Kvyat scoring the team's first podiums since 2019 and the first of the new Alpha Tauri days. The podiums came on the first and on the last race of the year.

With Gasly moving to BMW Williams, Red Bull promoted the prodigiously talented Ness Muller to Alpha Tauri. The team still performed in the same way in 2021. However, in the Belgian GP, Kvyat injured his spine in a horrible crash, ending his career prematurely. Fellow academy prospect Tanjiro Kamado stepped up as the replacement and soonly permanent driver of the team, scoring 2 points.

## 2023-2025: Slipping down to the lower midfield

Muller was promoted to the main team after just one year, with the out of favour in Red Bull Alexander Albon being relegated to Alpha Tauri. The team suffered a setback as while Albon was consistent and scored 16 points, Kamado struggled badly and only scored 1 point, 1 less than his replacement stint in 2022. 2034 ended in virtually the same way. Following this, both drivers left the team and were replaced by academy prospesct Li Sin and Xi Zao. Things went even worse as the inexperienced Asian duo only scored 5 points for the team.

## 2026-2031: Hard times

With Red Bull going for a money saving strategy to prepare for the 2032 regulations, Alpha Tauri did the same, eventually slipping to the lower end of the grid. Zao and Sin failed to score a single point and their contracts were terminated in the end of the year. They were replaced by fellow academy members Mario Leduc and Rayan Hils For the three years they raced, they failed to score a single point and were consistently the second worst team of the grid, with financially stricken BMW Williams being the only team worse than them. Both of them left the team in 2029, with new draftees Temirzhan Ershin and Simone Cimorelli entering. Still, they failed to score points despite their talent. Swiss driver Erich von Ribermarch also raced for a while when Ershin raced for Red Bull.

## 2032-2035: Rise to the top

Following the introduction of the new regulations, Alpha Tauri was one of the benefitted teams alongside its parent team and saw a rise in performance. Both Ershin and Cimorelli were kept for the exciting season. Ershin stunned the paddock with a fight for the title, finishing third behind the Red Bulls of Muller and Kamado. Cimorelli, however, struggled with the car and finished 15th on the standings. Both of their contracts expired in the end of 2032, with Ershin moving to the main Red Bull team and Cimorelli returning to Formula International.

For 2033, the team signed Farid Esmaeilzadeh and Guilherme Nogueira. Esmaeilzadeh scored wins on the first two races of the season, becoming the first driver to win on his debut race. Esmaeilzadeh even battled for the title, beating Muller but losing the title to Ershin. Noguiera was inconsistent, however, due to his lack of experience. Both drivers were kept for 2034, with Esmaeilzadeh winning the drivers title, becoming the youngest ever World Champion at the age of 22 years and 3 months old. Nogueira still struggled and also got an injury in the 13th race of the year. Von Ribermarch returned again and scored one more win, but the team lost the double to Aramco. Still, they have overthrown Red Bull and won their first tirle. Following the promotion of Esmaeilzadeh to Red Bull, Alpha Tauri signed Emilio Guerra, and the team failed to win the title, but Guerra became rookie of the year. The sudden move of Ershin to Allianz G2 led to the promotion of Guerra to Red Bull. Following a failed move to promote Liang Jin due to him being ineligible by age, they signed Christian McGonagall for one year.

## 2036-2039: Decline, final years and sale

Despite having a very quick car, Alpha Tauri had a horrendous 2036 season, with Nogueira finishing 15th and McGonagall struggling to get to grips with the car and finishing 22nd. McGonagall's wages were also notable for being too big for Alpha Tauri, who had began to struggle financially. In 2037, McGonagall was sacked immediately and Liang was promoted. In 2037, the team's mismanagement and overspending of the previous years had started to show its effects, with the team having the worst car of the grid and finishing last with 4 points.

Liang was promoted to the first team and fellow Red Bull starlet Burhan Tekin was given the second seat at Alpha Tauri. While the car was improved, the team's financial position required them to finish at least 9th or they would declare bankruptcy. Nogueira did some great races during that year and finished 13th. Tekin finished in the bottom 5 in the standings, but his points were enought to keep the team in 8th, which secured their grid position for at least 2039. However, Red Bull's stance on their junior team had changed following the increasingly worse situation of the Faenza team, and decided to buy out their drafting rights for the 2038 draft.

For 2039, Tekin moved permanently to Ferrari and was replaced with Ferrari draftee Jasmine Estrella on a swap deal that involved Red Bull draftee Alex Harvey joining the other way. Nogueira again pulled off great results and finished 11th while Estrella finished 21st and struggled alongside all of the rookies of that season, and Alpha Tauri finished 7th. However, despite this result, the funds had completely dried up and Red Bull decided to shut down the team, ending the spell of a project that started in 2006. Alpha Tauri's assets were put on sale, and after a controversial bidding war that saw main candidates Venturi disqualified, FI rivals HSBC Nero purchased the assets and moved up to Formula Earth. The Faenza headquarters, which were not purchased by Nero, were sold to FI newcomers AMF.

## Notable Drivers

* Pierre Gasly (2020-2021)
* Daniil Kvyat (2020-2022)
* Ness Muller (2022)
* Tanjiro Kamado (2022-2024)
* Alexander Albon (2023-2024)
* Li Sin (2025-2026)
* Xi Zao (2025-2026)
* Mario Leduc (2027-2029)
* Rayan Hils (2027-2029)
* Temirzhan Ershin (2030-2032)
* Simone Cimorelli (2030-2032)
* Erich von Ribermarch (2031, 2034)
* Farid Esmaeilzadeh (2033-2034)
* Guilherme Nogueira (2033-2039)
* Emilio Guerra (2035)
* Christian McGonagall (2036)
* Liang Jin (2037)
* Burhan Tekin (2038)
* Jasmine Estrella (2039)