Oscar Piastri’s season has inspired AlphaTauri to reconsider its approach towards its young drivers

The sister team of Red Bull, AlphaTauri, has been known for several years as the mandatory step for young drivers in the Red Bull program. But recently, and with the goal of achieving better results, the team from Faenza has now turned towards stability and experience.

It is in this context, with also a major reorganization planned for the 2024 season, that AlphaTauri will field experienced driver Daniel Ricciardo alongside Yuki Tsunoda, who is starting his fourth season in Formula 1.

But Oscar Piastri’s first season in F1 caught the attention of McLaren’s competitors. The CEO of AlphaTauri, Peter Bayer, acknowledged that the Australian young driver’s rapid learning has been a source of inspiration.

« It’s a new field that we will tackle next year,” Bayer said. « We want to use some of the money we are currently earning to ensure that we can prepare young drivers in the best way possible.”

And I think Oscar Piastri is the best example of that. He has covered I don’t know how many hundreds or thousands of kilometers [before joining McLaren], but he arrived and understood the car. He understood the dynamics, he understood the controls, and that makes a huge difference, it completely connects you, he added.

Peter Bayer has suggested that obtaining additional trial time for Red Bull’s young drivers will be a priority in the future, with current reserve driver Liam Lawson, as well as F2 residents Isack Hadjar and Ayumu Iwasa, seeking to make their way into Formula 1.

We have a great program for Liam [Lawson] and Isack [Hadjar], and eventually Ayumu [Iwasa], and we want to make sure to give them as much track time as possible. It’s interesting that the car [regulationally allowed] is a 2022 car, so it’s finally a relevant car.

In total, the Austrian structure has no less than 13 drivers in its Red Bull Junior Team, including two Frenchmen: Isack Hadjar and Enzo Deligny.