Journalist triggered AlphaTauri F1 team sale rumours
Mar.2 - Dr Helmut Marko thinks rumours about AlphaTauri's potential sale were triggered by a single journalist.
The Faenza based team, which like the premier outfit Red Bull Racing is also owned by the energy drink company, has now taken the step of issuing an official statement to deny the rumours.
In the statement, boss Franz Tost referred to recent meetings with Oliver Mintzlaff, who after the death of Dietrich Mateschitz now represents the drinks company's upper management.
"I had some very good meetings with Oliver Mintzlaff, who confirmed that the shareholders will not sell AlphaTauri, and that Red Bull will continue supporting the team in the future," Tost said.
"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."
To the German publication Sport1, Austrian Tost said the rumours had unsettled the team just ahead of the start of the 2023 season.
AlphaTauri Formula 1 Team factory, Faenza, Italy
"In the last few days I have been busy reassuring my employees who feared for their jobs because of the rumours," he said. "That was unnecessary and unpleasant.
"We have to get better, no question. But the performance has nothing to do with the rumours. We will always belong to Red Bull.
"And the philosophy on our part hasn't changed. We will continue to train young drivers in the future," Tost insisted.
Marko, a top Red Bull official in Formula 1, thinks a single journalist triggered the rumours.
"A journalist came to me and actually we just talked about which new manufacturers and investors could be interested in Formula 1," he explained.
"In this context, I never said that AlphaTauri was for sale, only how the efficiency of our second team could be increased. It's no secret that no one can be satisfied with ninth place in the constructors' championship," 79-year-old Marko added.
Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher, who is well-known for being close to Tost, thinks AlphaTauri's role in developing drivers justifies the team alone.
"Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, for example, were all Franz Tost apprentices," he said.
"And if you look at today's field of drivers, with Carlos Sainz, Max, Pierre Gasly, Alexander Albon and Yuki Tsunoda, five drivers come from the Red Bull junior school. That's a quarter of the entire field.
"So the success of the team cannot be described solely with regards to the last world championship standings."
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"Journalist triggered AlphaTauri F1 team sale rumours"
Rumours have surfaced that AlphaTauri Formula One team may be sold to Andretti Autosport, the American racing team owned by former IndyCar champion, Michael Andretti.
According to sources close to the negotiations, Andretti Autosport has been in talks with AlphaTauri's parent company, Red Bull, for several months. Although there has been no official confirmation from either party, reports suggest that a deal could be announced in the coming weeks.
If the rumors are true, the move would mark a significant shift in the F1 landscape, with an American team taking over one of the established European teams. It would also give Andretti Autosport a much-needed presence in Formula One, as they have been largely absent from the sport since the early 2000s.
The move could also have implications for the current AlphaTauri drivers, Nyck de Vries and Yuki Tsunoda, as it's unclear whether Andretti Autosport would retain them or bring in their own drivers.
For now, fans will have to wait and see whether the rumors are true and what the future holds for both AlphaTauri and Andretti Autosport.
"Okay, so to make a point that I've made several times on here, journalists these days write anything that comes to mind, and then let it grows legs. It took me less than ten minutes to write this article, and if I were to post it on Twitter, it would start to trend and then other news organisations would run the story without checking the facts. Unfortunately, this is how most news is reported these days."
It would be interested to know how many people started reading and thought it was the original article that started the rumours.
I imagine his conversation went a little like this.
Dr. Helmut Marko, the advisor to the Red Bull Racing team, has expressed his disappointment with the performance of sister team, AlphaTauri, in the recently concluded Formula One season. Speaking to the media, Marko said, "It's no secret that no one can be satisfied with ninth place in the constructors' championship. People's jobs will be on the line if no improvement is forthcoming."
AlphaTauri, formerly known as Toro Rosso, finished ninth in the 2022 F1 constructors' championship, behind Haas and ahead of Williams. The team struggled to match the pace of their rivals throughout the season, and Marko believes that changes need to be made to ensure a better performance this year.
"It's clear that we need to improve in all areas, whether it's the car, the drivers, or the team's operations," Marko added. "We need to make some tough decisions to ensure that we come back stronger this year."
Marko's comments come amid rumors that AlphaTauri may be sold to another team, but Red Bull has refused to comment on the speculation. "Red Bull will neither confirm nor deny the rumors," a spokesperson, who asked not to be named, said. "Watch this space."
For now, fans will have to wait and see what changes the off-season brings for AlphaTauri and whether they can improve their performance in the upcoming Formula One season, as the stakes are high for the team and their employees.