(Motorsport) Various reports had emerged that Red Bull Racing could sell second team AlphaTauri or move the team’s base from Italy to the United Kingdom but team principal Franz Tost has now publicly stated that the team won’t be sold. Tost took to social media to say that the Red Bull management had assured him “that the shareholders will not sell” Alpha Tauri, receiving assurances from Oliver Mintzlaff, Red Bull’s chief executive officer of corporate projects and new investments. Tost has previously served as the former CEO of Red Bull’s RB Leipzig football team and has been in-charge of AlphaTauri since the death of Red Bull co-owner Dietrich Mateschitz.
AlphaTauri issued a brief statement quoting Tost which said “I had some very good meetings with Oliver Mintzlaff, who confirmed that the shareholders will not sell Scuderia AlphaTauri, and that Red Bull will continue supporting the team in the future. All these rumours have no foundation, and the team has to remain focused for the start of the season to perform better than last year.”
The report that claimed AlphaTauri could be sold said that the second team finished ninth last season and was costing more than Red Bull Racing to maintain. It also claimed that the organisational model whose aerodynamic department is based in Bicester in Oxfordshire despite having headquarters in Faenza in Italy, was inefficient.
Speaking to Sky Germany last week, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko said that the parent team was dissatisfied by AlphaTauri’s ninth place finish in 2022. He said “Such a decision is entirely up to the shareholders. These are rumours that we do not comment on in detail… If you have a team that wins the world championship and the other one is only around ninth place, the synergies don’t seem to work properly. The overall result is not satisfactory. As proper business people, our shareholders will make the right decision.”
With AlphaTauri’s future in Formula 1 secure, Michael Andretti’s bid to enter the sport could be dented if his aim is to buy an existing team and not pay an inflated anti-dilution fee of $600million.
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