F1 team confirms MAJOR offseason pivot

Perez haalt Tsunoda in op Interlagos — Photo: © LAT Images

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F1 team confirms MAJOR offseason pivot

Ambitious F1 team are rethinking of their operation in 2024

Cal Gaunt

Wednesday 24 January 2024 15:57

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In a strategic shift, VisaCashApp RB Formula 1 team CEO Peter Bayer has announced a departure from the team's historical focus on nurturing rookies, marking a pivotal change.

The team have undergone a huge rebranding ahead of the start of the season after ditching the name AlphaTauri and becoming their current guise following confirmation of the team name on Wednesday.

Known for cultivating emerging talents, the team has opted for experience this season, retaining Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda while placing last year's contender, Liam Lawson, on standby.

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This shift reflects a departure from the team's past role as a training ground for future Red Bull Racing stars, as they now focus on achieving top-tier results themselves.

The transformation coincides with the change in leadership, with Franz Tost stepping aside and Bayer, along with new team principal Laurent Mekies, taking the reigns.

Peter Bayer wants to see newly named VisaCashApp RB results improve in 2024

Franz Tost left the team formerly known as AlphaTauri at the end of 2023

Focus shifts at VisaCashApp RB

The team's renewed focus on performance signifies a bold step forward as it enters this new chapter in its Formula 1 journey.

“The shareholders, when they were resharpening things, they also said, 'we want you to be competitive',” said Bayer.

“Franz always says, and honestly in the meantime I agree 100 per cent, that a young driver needs three years to be sort of ready for F1.

"With all the complexity the sport is currently requiring, and the amount of information they have to digest and process and then feed back to us, so that we again understand as a team what to do, how to change the settings and so on, and to be competitive, simply they need a lot of time.”

Bayer also hinted at the substantial increase in radio communication he observed when Lawson stepped in for the injured Ricciardo last year, emphasising the notable support that rookies often necessitate.