Christian Horner insists AlphaTauri no longer Red Bull's junior team

Red Bull - AlphaTauri

Horner insists AlphaTauri no longer Red Bull's junior team

Red Bull team principal feels the two will be on par from next year

Ian Parkes

Thursday 17 September 2020 13:04

Christian Horner has declared AlphaTauri is now the sister team to Red Bull, moving away from its previously seen junior status.

Since the team once known as Toro Rosso arrived into Formula 1 in 2006, a year after Red Bull made its debut, the latter has always carried senior status.

Insisting that "AlphaTauri is now a sister team rather than a junior team", the remark was initially made in reference to Pierre Gasly.

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Horner claims the Frenchman should not view being retained by his current employer as a sign he is being held back from any kind of promotion.

Horner believes AlphaTauri has now evolved beyond where Toro Rosso was once viewed, and with more equal opportunities looming given the arrival of the budget cap from next year, and wide-sweeping regulations from 2022.

In addition, Horner said: "Obviously, AlphaTauri is a rebranded team for this year. I think their aspirations are beyond where Toro Rosso’s were.

"We have a synergy project within the regulations that we’re allowed so, for example, the sharing of the wind tunnel will happen for the first time next year, which makes complete sense from a financial perspective."

Red Bull's wind tunnel is a 60% model, compared to the 50% version currently being used by AlphaTauri, which will naturally prove an advantage for 2022 especially.

"The tools that we’re using, the model size, AlphaTauri will be utilising the same equipment, the same tunnel," added Horner.

"Of course, hopefully, that will be helpful for them in their development, particularly with the 2022 car being such a significant regulation change.

"So I think the regulations are now clear, the grey zones have been taken out in terms of what is and isn’t allowed and hopefully AlphaTauri will certainly benefit from that."

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