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I see it being referred to as the 'Spanish GP'. Wonder if it'll fall into an alternating schedule with Barcelona, like the German GP was with Nurburgring/Hockenheim.
AlphaTauri will emerge from the Formula 1 winter break with an all-new team name after the decision was made to undergo a rebranding to RB ahead of the 2024 campaign.
Red Bull’s sister outfit joined the grid back in 2006 and initially raced under the Toro Rosso guise (meaning Red Bull in Italian) but were renamed as AlphaTauri from 2020 to promote the company’s fashion brand.
Now, some four years after that change, the team will be given another name as they head into a new era following the retirement of long-time team boss Franz Tost, who is being replaced by former Ferrari Deputy Team Principal and Racing Director Laurent Mekies.From 2024 onwards, they will be known as RB (the full team name will be Visa Cash App RB Formula One Team) marking a stronger reference to the Red Bull operation who have benefitted from bedding in a host of junior drivers with the Faenza squad.
Over the years, the likes of four-time champion Sebastian Vettel, now three-time champion Max Verstappen and multiple race winner Daniel Ricciardo built up valuable experience at the outfit before progressing to Red Bull.
Highlights of AlphaTauri’s spell in F1 include a remarkable victory for Pierre Gasly at the 2020 Italian Grand Prix, a result that brought back memories of Vettel’s breakthrough triumph in 2008 during the Toro Rosso days.Next year, Yuki Tsunoda will enter his fourth F1 season at RB, while Ricciardo keeps his spot after replacing Nyck de Vries midway through the 2023 campaign and returning from injuries sustained in a practice crash at Zandvoort.
In addition to Mekies arriving as Tost’s replacement after the Austrian’s 18-year stint at the helm, another recent change at the top of the team saw Peter Bayer come in from the FIA, overseeing operations as CEO.
AlphaTauri finished eighth in the constructors’ standings for 2023, ahead of Alfa Romeo and Haas, via a late flurry of points-scoring performances.
The Madrid track map definitely looks odd at the 'north' bit where it crosses this highway.
1 commentary I read said it looks like the caffeine kicked in when he was doing that part.
Can't find the image they had, but this bit on green looked like it was poorly done in MS Paint on the official F1 image they were referencing
Ferrari and Charles Leclerc have agreed a fresh contract extension, with the Monegasque continuing to race for the team beyond the end of 2024.
Leclerc has enjoyed a long relationship with the Scuderia, having first joined the Ferrari Driver Academy in 2016. After making his F1 debut with Sauber in 2018, he became a full-time member of the Ferrari team in 2019 and from there has scored five race wins, as well as claiming 23 pole positions.
Now the partnership looks set to continue for several more years as Leclerc remains set on his aim of winning the world championship with Ferrari.
“I’m very pleased to know that I will be wearing the Scuderia Ferrari race suit for several more seasons to come,” Leclerc commented on the contract announcement.
“To race for this team has been my dream since I was three years old: I used to watch the Monaco Grand Prix from the window of a friend’s apartment at Ste. Devote corner and I would always look out for the red cars. This team is my second family ever since I joined the Ferrari Driver Academy in 2016 and we have achieved a lot together, fighting through thick and thin over the past five years.
“However, I believe the best is yet to come and I can’t wait for this season to start, to make further progress and be competitive at every race. My dream remains that of winning the World Championship with Ferrari and I’m sure that in the years ahead, we will enjoy great times together and make our fans happy.”
Team Principal Fred Vasseur added: “Charles’ bond to the Scuderia goes beyond that of just a driver and a team, as he has been part of the Ferrari family for eight years now, dating back to a time before he first sported the Prancing Horse emblem on his race suit. His values and those of our team are intertwined and so it was natural for us to be in agreement on extending our collaboration.
“We know him for his incessant desire to push himself to the limit and we appreciate his extraordinary abilities when it comes to fighting and overtaking in a race. We are determined to give Charles a winning car and I know that his determination and commitment are elements that can make the difference in helping us reach our goals.”
Leclerc will enter into his sixth season as a Ferrari driver in 2024, where he will again by joined by team mate Carlos Sainz, who is contracted to the team until the end of the year.
The Italian outfit will launch their new challenger on February 13, ahead of pre-season testing taking place in from February 21-23 in Sakhir before the first event of the campaign, the Bahrain Grand Prix, on February 29-March 2.
I think, officially, the team name is just RB
For the same of the OP, that's what I'd have put if I had it handy at the time, didn't bother with sponsors & such for that purpose.
The FIA’s entry list for the 2024 Formula 1 season has confirmed Red Bull’s second team has been entered by a company named ‘Racing Bulls’.
However a representative of the team, which competed as AlphaTauri last year, confirmed to RaceFans the initials ‘RB’ in its new name does not stand for ‘Racing Bulls’ or another phrase.
It revealed its new name for the upcoming season yesterday incorporating new sponsorship from two financial services companies, one of which was already a Red Bull sponsor. AlphaTauri will compete under the new title ‘Visa Cash App RB’.
The initials ‘RB’ first appeared in the original 2024 entry list published by the FIA last month. The team was entered under the title ‘Scuderia AlphaTauri RB’ with its chassis identified as ‘RB’. The appearance of the name ‘Racing Bulls’ prompted speculation the initials represented this new title. A Red Bull-owned company trademarked the name and a logo for ‘Racing Bulls’ last year. The name now appears on its website and is referred to in the domain the team uses for its emails.However the team says its ‘RB’ identity is intended to bring their branding closer to that of Red Bull. The connection was less obvious when they competed as AlphaTauri, prior to which they spent 14 years using the name ‘Toro Rosso’, which is Italian for Red Bull. The team now refers to itself as VCARB.
^ still like how Williams have keep their formal company name "Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited". When it was formed in 1977 with no outside capital, Williams had 65% ownership and cofounder/technical director Patrick Head 35%. Head knew that Williams was going to be the only surname used but he persisted with Frank to add "Engineering" (Head's a engineer) to the name to which he agreed. Head's mentioned in interviews he's still proud of that.
Sauber's another interesting one, as they've always been Sauber, right? Just with title sponsors like Alfa & Kick are? Not sure on the BMW era.
Didn't know Benneton came from Toleman.
Sauber's another interesting one, as they've always been Sauber, right? Just with title sponsors like Alfa & Kick are? Not sure on the BMW era.
Didn't know Benneton came from Toleman.
BMW outright owned Sauber, so the graphic is correct. When BMW left F1, they sold Sauber back to Peter Sauber.
Alfa Romeo and Stake are only sponsors, however, Alfa did a full rebrand of the team, where nothing was referred to Sauber anymore, so that's a bit of a grey area. Stake is just a sponsor, as the Sauber name is now back. The weird thing is that the team is already under partial Audi ownership. So maybe they should put Audi on the graphic instead.
It is interesting, looking into the Alfa/Sauber part.
The constructor was listed as Alfa Romeo Racing, but the ownership, racing license & mgmt were still Sauber.
From Wiki:
Alfa Romeo owned the naming rights to Sauber from 2019 to 2023. However, the official company name remained Sauber Motorsport AG during this time.
2024 is even more stable compared to 2023 when it comes to changes to the regulations – and that usually provides an opportunity for the field to close up – but there are still a few rule tweaks of note for us to guide you through.
1. Review time periods
An area that can regularly cause controversy is when a team wants to appeal a decision or a situation that has occurred in a previous race. One of the avenues open to them is the ‘Right of Review’ that is in the FIA’s International Sporting Code.
Teams can try and revisit decisions that have already been ruled upon, as long as they can provide a “significant and relevant new element discovered which was unavailable to the parties seeking the review at the time of the decision concerned.”
The window to lodge such an appeal was previously 14 days from the decision being made, but now teams must do so within four days – or 96 hours – with the potential for a 24-hour extension to that deadline in special circumstances.
Unlike in the past, teams will have to pay a deposit that will be set annually by the governing body, and only receive it back if they are successful or the FIA judges that “fairness requires” it to do so in the event of a failed petition.
On top of all that, teams must also specify the elements that are significant, relevant and new ahead of any hearing taking place, rather than trying to argue points for the first time during a hearing
2. Increase in potential fines
Not only are teams facing smaller windows to lodge certain appeals, but both they and their drivers could be facing bigger fines for breaking the rules, too.
In the past, the maximum fine that the stewards could impose under the International Sporting Code was €250,000 (£215,000, $270,000) but that has been quadrupled this year to now sit at €1million.
Other categories have also seen an increase as the FIA stated the figure had not been revisited in more than a decade, but it opens F1 drivers and teams up to some costly punishments
3. Tighter power unit usage rules
Last year, teams were allowed to use four of each of the internal combustion engine (ICE), motor generator unit – heat (MGU-H), motor generator unit – kinetic (MGU-K), and turbocharger (TC) before they would pick up a grid penalty.
That was due to the length of the season, with teams allowed to develop their power units for reliability purposes. Those increased limits were only in place for 2023, however, and this year sees a return to three each of the ICE, MGU-H, MGU-K and TC.
The other two components – control electronics (CE) and energy store (ES) – remain unchanged at two each per driver for the entire season
4. Bigger promotional events
At this time of year you might see teams carrying out shakedown events before the pre-season test in Bahrain gets underway, and wonder how they’re allowed to. Well, teams can run current cars on two occasions as promotional events, usually used for filming for partners as well as checking the car works as it should.
In the past, these days were limited to 100km of mileage in total – 20 laps of a 5km circuit – but from 2024 teams can now do double that distance as part of each day, but only one event per day.
Now with 200km available, it provides greater opportunity for shaking a car down pre-season and capturing more footage at the same time
5. Changes to testing old cars
Teams are allowed to run cars that are at least two years old as part of a testing programme, often providing opportunities for young drivers. Given the major change in regulations, the 2021 car was also allowed to be used in 2022, as it provided so little crossover information that it wouldn’t be valuable to the current car.
However, with the 2022 car now becoming part of the permitted Testing of Previous Car (TPC) programme, it has been clarified that all components have to have run at least once either in an official testing session or race weekend to then be allowed on a previous car. That’s to stop teams testing items during a TPC run that then could make their way onto the current car
6. Increased CapEx limits
The introduction of the cost cap has seen the gap between the front and the back of the grid closing up, with all ten teams making multiple Q3 appearances last year.
In order to ensure the biggest teams don’t have a locked-in advantage due to the cost cap, teams can now spend more over a four-year period on Capital Expenditure (CapEX), in order to upgrade their facilities.
What was a limit of $45m (£35m, €41m) for the rolling four years has been increased to $65m (£51m, €60m) for the four teams that have finished in the bottom four of the standings on average since 2020 (Haas, Alfa Romeo, AlphaTauri and Williams).
The three teams that have averaged in the middle of the standings in that time (McLaren, Aston Martin and Alpine) all have an increased CapEx limit of $58m (£45m, €53m), while the top three of Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari can spend $51m (£40m, €47m) over the four-year period.
Doing so can ensure teams are more efficient under the cost cap and therefore actually able to create a better car for less cost each year in future
7. Even more strict roll hoop requirements
As already referenced a year ago, there have been a number of changes made to roll hoop requirements in response to Zhou Guanyu’s serious crash at the start of the 2022 British Grand Prix.
On top of last year’s changes to the shape of roll hoop designs and a minimum height for the point of application of the homologation test, from this year roll hoops must be able to withstand a much stricter load test to make them even more robust in the case of a similar accident to the one Zhou experienced
8. Plan for wheel displays dropped
Since the introduction of the 2022 regulations, cars have had wheel covers that have an impact on aerodynamics. These have also opened up opportunities for displaying information, and originally the intention was for wheel covers to carry a rotating display within them this year.
That change would have had an impact on the overall weight limit of the car too, but while the details were previously included in the regulations, they were retracted during last year and now won’t be implemented in 2024. It’s an area that could be revisited in future, though.
And one that is yet to be finalised
Sprint format
This is an area that is still to be determined for 2024. During discussions at the F1 Commission meeting in November 2023, there was overall support for an update to the Sprint format for 2024 to further rationalise the weekend by separating Sprint activities from those for the Grand Prix.
The Sporting Advisory Committee will work through specific details, particularly regarding timing and parc ferme regulations, for a final proposal to be presented to the F1 Commission for the first meeting of 2024.
Following that meeting, any potential changes to the Sprint format will be announced.
“Whatever it Takes” | Full Documentary Film – 4K Original Version
1.5 hour documentary on Alpha Tauri car development in 2020
The world of motor racing is all about speed, adrenalin and incredible stories and our team is no exception. Find out all about it by watching “Whatever it takes - The Race before the Races”, our official documentary film, now freely available online in the original language and in 4K.
The world premiere of Whatever it Takes, in Venice back in September 2023, was a great success and now everyone can enjoy watching the film produced in conjunction with our Media Partner, Digital Lighthouse. Let Franz Tost, Pierre Gasly, Yuki Tsunoda, Jody Egginton and Peter Bayer talk you through the beating heart of our team. Going behind the scenes as never before in Formula 1, the film delves into the secrets of the Faenza factory in Italy and the Bicester wind tunnel in the UK. It’s a great story going all the way back to the Scuderia Toro Rosso days, which included our first ever win at Monza in 2008 and the challenges faced in the years that followed. It also features the drivers that sat in our cars over the past 20 years, such as Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen, as well as covering our change to Scuderia AlphaTauri in 2020, with new facilities, more ambitious goals and another win, again in Monza, this time courtesy of Pierre Gasly.
So much achieved and so much more to aim for. Whatever it takes!
It seems to be posturing by F1 to wait until admitting Andretti after 2025, when the current Concord Agreement expires, and the $200 million dilution stipulation expires with it. Just watch, the next Concord Agreement will require a $1 billion anti-dilution requirement.
I'm not sure what to make of this recycled rumor. The amount of outlets reporting it makes me think it may be legit, especially with Audi wanted to bring Sainz in.
Frankly shocked, as Ferrari hasn't seemed like they had a decent plan to come up with a championship winning car. Always thought Hamilton would retire with MB
01-23-2024, 07:36 AM
Long Beach is really wide for a street circuit (some corners could be taken 3 cars wide) makes for exciting action.
